Little Things

February 1, 2012

2012-02-01T18:27:00.000-08:00

It looked a lot different out the school room window today than it did a year ago! (And did you notice that I was able to score three Groundhog Day books from the library?!)

We've been having beautiful weather! Yesterday we went to the playground after PE.

It was marvelous. (If you've ever been around Alice, you will recognize that hands on the hips is her default position.)

Like last year, we did stay home all day today. Alice made beds for her babies on the stairs.

Jack put together a new Lego set. I love the look on his face.

We kicked off Valentine's Day festivities with notes in the mailboxes and cupcakes for tea time.

Happy Wednesday!

Artist Study: Van Gogh

2012-01-31T18:23:00.000-08:00

Our artist for January was Vincent Van Gogh!

Jack recognized several of his paintings, and even Alice recognized this one, since it's in our bedroom.

Jack really enjoyed the book on the right and also the Getting to Know... DVD.

A few other books we have on Van Gogh. Alice really enjoys the Touch the Art books.

I picked both of these up at our museum gift shop.

I picked this book up at a Scholastic sale a while back and we have used it quite a bit!

I will confess that I thought about getting some oil paints for the kids to try out, but things have been so hectic lately that I couldn't bring myself to add that into the mix. We always like oil pastels, though!

Our original purpose in going to the museum last week was to see a Van Gogh. After a while, I couldn't find it and asked someone, only to find out that it had been on loan and had been returned. There is a Van Gogh at the museum we used to go to in Norman, though, so he has seen a Van Gogh, even if he doesn't remember it! We did find this painting that had a lot of similar qualities to Van Gogh's paintings!

A few other resources:

Art Lessons for 1st-7th Grades

Confessions of a Homeschooler's Van Gogh Lesson

Starry Night Printable Book

~~~~~~~

"I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart." ~ Vincent Van Gogh

Fun Friday: Time to Live

2012-01-27T18:31:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the museum. There was a specific purpose for the trip that didn't quite work out as I'd planned (more on that next week), but we had a good time anyway.

We spent lots of time playing in the gardens.

We found raccoon tracks!

We even found one of the museum cats!

We took our lunch to the arboretum and ran some more.

Alice even managed to get herself in a tree.

And the boys had a great time playing some kind of game--I never quite now what they're playing, but it involves sticks and sneaking.

I'm so thankful today for some time just to live!

~~~~~

{Find planning ideas here!}

President of the Week

2012-01-25T08:28:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, Jack started memorizing the presidents. He was learning them using the Mouthwash Method--the same way he learned his multiplication tables. While he swishes his mouthwash, Jay says the list of presidents. After he spits, he repeats them back. Obviously they had not gotten through all of the presidents since I'm pretty sure Jack couldn't swish that long.

Jay had taught Jack a few important facts about the ones they had learned and had mentioned maybe doing some reading with him about them. I went so far as to dig out my stash of president books, but then we kind of fizzled. Around December, though, I came up with the idea of learning about one president each week and was excited to find that there was just enough time to cover them all before the election in November--really with a week to spare since I was giving Grover Cleveland two separate weeks in my calculations.

So what are we doing? For starters, we have the nifty display you see above. This doesn't do a whole lot, but it is important because it keeps me from fizzling out. Some people I know in real life read this blog, and if it were April and they came over and say, Martin Van Buren was still up, I would be embarrassed. If it's right in front of me, I'll keep up with it. (I got the pictures from a book we got on a vacation to Washington DC when I was 8. I tore them all out and laminated them while watching The Help, which was good, but not nearly as good as the book.) We're reading a book or two about the president, watching a DVD if we can find one, and filling out a flap book from Homeschool Share to put in his notebook.

There's no way I'm going to be able to keep up with listing the books each week, but I will let you know when I find some gems. I have several books telling about all of the presidents so I almost passed this one up when I saw it at the bookstore, but I went ahead and got it. Jack has really enjoyed reading through it and was especially excited to find a mistake--Lyndon Johnson is between Kennedy and Nixon, but for some reason it says he is the 43rd president.

The Declaration of Independence came up last week since we were learning about Thomas Jefferson, so I pulled out this great book I used to use with my fifth graders. It is the actual text taken phrase by phrase and illustrated to make it easier to understand. Much of it was still over Jack's head, but he got the gist of it.

We're also trying to have one of the president of the week's favorite foods! Some are pretty easy, like pancakes (Jefferson) or ice cream (Washington, Jefferson, Madison). I'm not sure what we'll do when we get to William Henry Harrison, who liked squirrel stew and hard cider.

If I come across a craft, we'll do that, too. I found these cute George Washington faces on Pinterest. There's not a whole lot of Rutherford B. Hayes craft blogs out there, though, so we'll see how that goes.

Other stuff:

Here's my Pinterest Board of things I've found on the presidents.

Already sick of hearing negative political ads? Check out these awesome attack ads from the early 1800s.

Jack has really enjoyed the Getting to Know books and DVDs by Mike Venezia. We've also used some of these in our artist studies.

And finally, my latest review at Homeschool Share is on So You Want to Be President!

If you know of any great picture books on any of the lesser-known presidents (in other words, not Washington or Lincoln!), I would love to hear about them!

The 100th Day of School!

2012-01-24T14:12:00.000-08:00

Today was our 100th day of school!

I let the kids play on the playground after speech briefly. Sorry to any teachers whose kids were watching out the window!

My mom called and asked if we wanted to meet her for lunch.

After PE, we wrapped up our celebrations with Cherry Berry!

Fun Friday: Penguin Day

2012-01-20T19:45:00.000-08:00

Just in case you weren't already aware of it, January 20 is Penguin Day, and since we are currently in the middle of the Mr. Popper's Penguins unit, I thought it would be a good day to head to the zoo.

At the beginning of the week, the meteorologists were saying it would be 64 and sunny. Instead it was in the upper 30s with clouds and drizzle. The penguins even seemed to be chilly! On the bright side, we had the zoo pretty much to ourselves.

Alice wanted to be as tall as the Emperor Penguin and didn't believe me when I told her she would be one day.

Alice found a zookeeper in one of the cages!

He was nice enough to bring a snake out for all the kids to feel.

I'm pretty sure Jack is going to see mad monkey faces in his dreams tonight. These guys were going bonkers right up at the glass.

One more, just because it made me laugh!

Fun Friday: Warm Up

2012-01-13T15:22:00.000-08:00

Today we met friends at Gilcrease. We hadn't been since May and Jack wanted to play in the gardens again. Thankfully it has warmed up a bit since yesterday.

Alice was happy to find a little bit of snow left over.

We went to lunch and Jack was disappointed to see they weren't giving out Chipmunk toys anymore, so he took the superhero toy to the counter and told them he had the offer of their lives for them--his toy for one of the Chipmunk toys in the display case. They actually took him up on it, much to his delight. They've set a pretty high standard in his mind for McDonald's workers!

Happy Friday!

(Check out thoughts on being social here.)

Less Than a Week Later...

2012-01-12T17:53:00.000-08:00

Remember last week? Last night we got a dusting of snow. When Alice got up a little after 5:00 this morning, she was dying to go out in it. I finally let her out around 7:15 and she was giddy, even if the wind chill was 9. Seems she doesn't remember this or this or this. Thankfully it's supposed to be back to 60 by Sunday!

Little Things

2012-01-07T17:14:00.001-08:00

Hello, there.

It's only the second week of the year and I already feel behind on things. There are several things I want to write about, but for now I will make it quick and tell you five little things I did last year that vastly improved my life.

1. Parking in the garage The only time I've consistently parked in a garage was when we lived in Omaha, but somehow walking five minutes through snow to get to the garage took the fun out of it. I imagine that in heaven we can all park in a garage. It's that good.

2. Sock basket We don't wear socks in the house. My kids don't like to go upstairs by themselves. These two things make it hard to get out of the house in good time because someone (and sometimes it's me) has always forgotten to bring socks down and then no one wants to go up and get them. Finally I put a basket by the washer and every time socks come out of the dryer, they go in the basket. We always go out the door by the laundry room, so the socks are always right there. It's awesome.

3. Lamps in dining room Our old house was small and very open. You could have two lamps on and light the whole living and dining area. Not the case in this house. I spent $20 on two lamps at WalMart and it was like taking a whole bottle of Prozac. I love lights! Someday we will get around to putting things on the walls, but now that these lamps are there, I really don't care when.

4. Extra beaters I don't like a heavy hand mixer. I always buy the $6 mixers at WalMart. The problem is, they don't last very long, so I usually buy a couple at a time so I don't get stuck in the middle of making something with no mixer. The last time I had to toss one I forgot to throw out the beaters. Later I was making two things that had to be mixed and I realized that I didn't have to wash the beaters in between; I could just put in the other set of beaters. I know that makes me sound like the laziest person in the world, but it's really fabulous.

5. Saying no The older I get, the more introverted I become, but I still suffer from this condition that causes me to sign up for things without really thinking it through. This year, though, I tried to slow down and I even said no to some things. I'm even thinking of things to say no to next fall. It's nice.

I hope you're having a terrific 2012. I hope to have my Word of the Yer post done sometime soon, but in the mean time, you should check out Amber's Mind*Body*Soul Challenge!

Ten Years Ago

2012-01-07T17:11:00.000-08:00

Ten years ago today we brought home two cats, Biscuit and Boris.

Boris was our baby long before we had babies.

Happy, happy tenth Bobey Day, Boris! We love you!

Fun Friday: Beautiful Weather

2012-01-06T15:21:00.000-08:00

It was 72 degrees today. 72. On January 6. You just can't stay inside on a day like that.

We headed to the park.

We took my grandma and my aunt with us.

Alice finally really took up with my aunt, who is also an Alice, though no one ever calls her that.

Even though the weather is like spring, there's still plenty of winter static around.

I'm so glad we can take long recesses like this!

We've been reviewing this week, but we start back in full force Monday. Check out my post on starting back at Metro Family and this cute penguin mini-unit we'll be using from the teacher wife!

Happy Friday!

Christmas Break

2012-01-02T18:04:00.000-08:00

I'm sad to say that our break comes to an end tomorrow. There's been lots of hot chocolate.

Lots of Legos.

And lots of bike riding. I can't tell you how much she loves that bell.

We spent a day at the science museum with friends.

Alice loved the new house exhibit.

The painting was her favorite!

These two have been friends a long time!

I hope you had a great break, too!

Happy 2012!

2012-01-01T06:42:00.001-08:00

Another New Year's Eve, another round of New Year's Bags!

We started at 5:00 with a new playdoh set.

Jack could hardly wait until each hour rolled around!

6:00 was dinner--fish sticks at Jack's request--and make your own sundaes. We had new cups to use, too.

At 7:00 we made New Year's signs and worked on a survey.

8:00 This year's puzzle was pretty hard! It was a 300 piece I Spy puzzle and it took us a couple of hours total.

At 9:00 we played a new game.

We also had a cupcake snack!

We have had a Scooby movie every year we've done this and it's getting pretty hard to find one we don't have. This one ended up being lots of spoofs of TV shows Jack had no clue about.

When we opened the movie at 10:00, Alice had just given up.

Jack dozed off during the movie, too, but he woke up briefly at 11:00 to open up a new book and watch a bit of He-Man.

By the time midnight rolled around, he was out of it. We tried to wake him up for the countdown, but he barely stirred.

My favorite pictures of the night--those are strawberries in Jack's cheeks.

Happy 2012!

Christmas Out and About

2011-12-26T12:31:00.000-08:00

We spent most of Christmas Day with family. First we went to Jay's parents' house.
(Alice checking out the Christmas houses.)

Jack showing his Minifigures to his cousins

Jay and Alice

Jack was really excited to get one of the Hogwarts sets from his Nana and Papa.

Alice helped Aunt Shannon pass out gifts.

Alice and Alex

Alice finally warmed up to Uncle Kevin! It's not like he's brand new or anything...but she finally decided to hang out with him, so I had to get a picture.

Jack and Kiegan and a Lego Empire State Building

Later we went back across town to my parents' house.

The girls got Sock Monkey hats and the boys got Scooby hats!

Jack was excited to get all of the Spy Kids movies on DVD!

Alice is loving her new Leaptop. I haven't gotten a chance to try it out, but it can do all kinds of things!

Wearing her baby and some of her new dress up things

Just as I came in and was going to take their picture, Alice told her cousin he was a good friend. Too cute!

Jack had his Lego SpongeBob set put together by bedtime last night and we have been unpacking and playing all day!

Star Wars Christmas

2011-12-26T12:19:00.000-08:00

After the kids were in bed Christmas Eve, Jay got to work. He is so good at gifts it borders on ridiculous. He's been collecting all of these figures over the last few years and doling them out one or two at a time to keep Jack's interest up. (Yes, that is a donkey back there on the kitchen table.)

Now that Christmas is over, there's a lot more free shelf space in my closet. But just putting them under the tree isn't good enough.

No, you need a full battle scene in the back hall.

And something going on on the coffee table...

And the end table...

And the bookshelf...

And the kitchen table...

And the kitchen island.

And look who noticed the things on the coffee table first!

Christmas Morning

2011-12-26T12:14:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve we went to the annual party and then came home to put out Santa's milk (both kids said it had to be chocolate) and cookies.

The kids slept until 6:30 and woke up ready to go. Poor Jay only got about two hours of sleep--you'll see why later on.

Both the kids got some really nice gifts.

Somehow I didn't get a picture of Alice with the Dora guitar Santa brought her, which is odd since she's had it with her almost all the time!

One of Jack's surprises was the entire first series of Lego Minifigures, which he has been collecting since his birthday.

More pictures to come soon!

Good Tidings

2011-12-25T04:14:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and welcome to the time of year when moms all over are overworked, exhausted, and ready for December 26. Really this year has been pretty good. We have done something for Christmas every day, but many days it was something simple like having hot chocolate while we watched Christmas specials on TV.

A couple of nights ago, though, I was done. After sniffing and coughing and sneezing all day, I sent Jay off to a party I knew he would rather have gone to with me. I kicked myself for being a bad wife and finally got the kids in bed. Then Jack wanted me to lie down with him while he went to sleep and I begged off, seeing as I had about 20 things waiting downstairs and it was already more than an hour after his bedtime and I had watched Christmas shows with him earlier. I kicked myself for being a bad mom and went downstairs, but before I even plugged in the iron, Alice was awake and crying. And it went on and on until I went to bed, thinking I was not enough.

But really, isn't that the whole point of Christmas? No matter how good you are or how nice you are or how together you are, you are never enough. You can never do enough or be enough by yourself, but you don't have to, because, "behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord."

Merry Christmas.

A Visit to Bethlehem

2011-12-24T06:56:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago a local church hosted a night where the kids could travel to Bethlehem and see some of the things Mary and Joseph would have seen there. Alice has been very into nativity scenes this year. She loves to talk about Baby Jee-us and Mary and God (Sorry, Joseph, but since Baby Jesus is God's son, Alice has decided that you are not yourself in the nativity set. That Joseph figure clearly must be God, because he's the father. Maybe you'll get to be yourself when she gets a bit older.) When we went to see Christmas lights the other night we parked next to a light pole with a big star and she got so excited because, "We're at the mayner, Mom!"

Watching Jack make something with olive oil--I'm not sure exactly what he made, but it's still in the container in a baggie!

Making a bead necklace

Jack and Max with their necklaces

Making a sheep

Jack got to use a hand drill for his!

The finished sheep!

We had so much fun at this! It was well set up and the kids enjoyed it. We were so glad our friends came with us!

Fun Friday: Christmas Fun

2011-12-23T06:34:00.000-08:00

We're not doing anything special for Fun Friday today--watching cartoons and finishing up Christmas stuff, mostly. Here's a rundown of some of the Christmas fun we've had the last few weeks--starting with Alice with a picture of Santa at Hobby Lobby. She is getting excited!

In Jack's geography class they had a Christmas Around the World day and made little bag pinatas.

Peppermint playdough!

We went to the Garden Glow at our favorite museum.

This was our first year to go and we really enjoyed it.

Alice has been sad that we didn't have a star on top of our tree, so she was really excited when Jay brought one home!

Visiting the lights at Rhema

We went to see all the Nutcracker scenes at Utica Square this week. Alice was excited about going, but she fell asleep on the way and slept through all four scenes. Just as I was putting her back into the car, she woke up, so we took her to one and she loved it. We failed to mention there were three more!

Jack loves to get the map and wants us to go through in order--though it's hard to do with parking!

All that's left now is some baking and wrapping and I *think* we'll be ready!

Pinterest Fun

2011-12-22T18:46:00.000-08:00

Remember these guys we made? They were just one of the ideas I tried out from Pinterest this year. (I know I said I wasn't going to look around at other ideas there, but I just got sucked in by all the cool ideas!) My creations were not nearly as glamorous as Lisa's, but we had fun!

Pillow nativity set--Alice has loved this!

Felt tree for the school room

Jack and I did this fun art project one day. Since it doesn't look too Christmasy, we'll probably leave them up a while.

I've gotten lots of great ideas for our New Year's Eve bags, so I'll get started on those Monday!

Fantasy Versus Reality

2011-12-20T21:20:00.000-08:00

I'd like to be able to tell you that I started the week with my kitchen looking like this.

Really, though, it was like this.

The huge stack of books I checked out at the library doesn't really match up with the week before me.

After a bit of picking up, we headed out for a favorite excursion. (Pictures later.)

We managed to look clean and nice for last minute pictures.

The house is still a wreck and there is much work to be done before Sunday, but I'm taking tonight to read a new book and relax. Happy Christmas break!

Fun Friday: Living Nativity

2011-12-16T15:35:00.000-08:00

Today we went to see a living nativity at Shepherd's Cross.

There were all kinds of activities for the kids to do upstairs in the barn. They both made bird feeders.

Jack and Max spent most of the time playing checkers.

Alice wanted her picture taken with baby Jesus.

They had a short dramatic presentation about Elizabeth. Alice really thought baby John the Baptist was pretty awesome.

Cookies!

We had a great time and can't wait to go back to their sheep shearing weekend in the spring!

The Clown of God

2011-12-15T13:40:00.000-08:00

We've spent the last week with The Clown of God. Tomie dePaola is one of our favorites! There is also a DVD of this story we were able to get from our library.

We read through a lot of go alongs this week! We're still waiting on The Little Juggler to come in from the library, so we may spend a day on this when we start back after Christmas.

We also used The Renaissance Connection.

Giovanni meets up with two Little Brothers in the story, so we learned a little about Saint Francis.

We tried out some suncatchers. After having the beads roll out multiple times, Jack sat his aside--we'll finish it up over break.

Sister discovered that it is much easier if you dump all the beads in at once.

We had stained glass cookies for tea time--sugar cookies with Jolly Ranchers melted in the middle.

We used lapbooking pieces from Homeschool Share.

We'll finish up these pages with a picture of Jack's suncatcher and pieces for The Little Juggler.

Now we're starting a few days with The Legend of the Candy Cane before Christmas break!

A New Coat for Anna

2011-12-15T12:32:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we rowed A New Coat for Anna--I'm still catching up on some blogging!

We reviewed some World War II information.

We talked about goods and services and doing tasks in steps.

Barter is very important to this story--don't forget to listen to the song!

We also tried some paper weaving.

We also did some real weaving, but we are stuck with it on the loom until I can figure out how to finish them up!

A Visit With Santa

2011-12-12T18:05:00.000-08:00

This year's visit with Santa went much better than last year's. That's not an actual smile, but she's not crying, either.

Alice has been very interested in Santa this year, though I'm not sure if it's because she likes him or if she's nervous about him. She talks about him all the time.

We talked about it beforehand and she said she wouldn't sit on Santa's lap, but she would sit on Jack's lap while he sat on Santa's lap. With Jack's help, she said she wanted a guitar.

After a bit she got nervous and just kept her face right on Jack.

Once Alice was done, Jack got down to business explaining that he would like some Legos.

Hats from Santa!

We rode the carousel again and Alice seemed pretty happy about the whole morning!

Fun Friday: Ho Ho Ho!

2011-12-09T14:16:00.000-08:00

Today we made some Santa crafts.

The paint was a bit globby and the sticks were a bit warped, but if my kids made perfect crafts I would start a sweatshop instead of teaching them, so it's okay.

I think they turned out really cute!

We listened to The Polar Express on CD while we worked. (FYI, this edition is cheaper on Amazon than it is at Sam's.)

We are working on building speed on basic math facts--subtraction, especially--and Jack liked this game. I got it from The Teacher Wife and made my own cards.

Check out some more of our favorite Christmas books at Metro Family!
Happy Friday!

Christmas Painting

2011-12-06T20:05:00.000-08:00

We went to the Art Play Center for some Christmas painting today!

Alice was much more interested this year. She chose a gingerbread man ornament and she worked really hard to make sure it was all covered with paint.

Jack chose a snowman ornament.

Adding a layer of pink!

Putting on some finishing touches

Jack could probably go here every week and still not paint everything he would like to. He had his eye on this donut bank and almost bought it to paint later until he was lured away by a ceramic robot.

When they were finished, the lady from the store took their picture. Alice wasn't too sure about what they were doing. This year they chose to use acrylics with a spray glaze, so we were able to take them home tonight instead of waiting for them to be fired!

Cookie Day!

2011-12-04T18:47:00.000-08:00

Today was Cookie Day! Jack requested chocolate chip and peanut butter.

Alice liked helping out. We read If You Give A Mouse A Cookie many times and she watched the Reading Rainbow episode, too!

I made a batch of sugar cookie playdough (vanilla + white glitter) for this week. Jay thinks scented playdough is weird, but I think it's a nice change from the regular homemade playdough smell. I use the recipe Carisa links to in her post about their playdough box.

If you want some great cookie ideas--and all kinds of other baked goodies, too--check out Amanda's blog!

Want a lapbook for If You Give A Mouse A Cookie? Head on over to Homeschool Share!

Fun Friday: Fa La La La La!

2011-12-02T15:24:00.000-08:00

Today we visited the Festival of Trees. Jack and I liked the tree from The Nightmare Before Christmas, but Alice didn't seem too sure about it.

This fairy tree was really cute, too!

Jack's favorite part is the gingerbread houses.

We have to take a picture of almost every one.

Alice was pretty impressed this year, but she was probably more excited about seeing so much candy corn than she was about the actual construction.

Jack's absolute favorite was the gingerbread Hogwarts. He told me that if it hadn't already been sold, he would have bought it with his own money, and I believe him.

We've been doing lots of Christmasy things this week. Monday we chose our angels from the Angel Tree and picked out our ornaments (Tom and Jerry for Jack, Cinderella for Alice).

Yesterday we made gingerbread playdoh.

Alice has been enjoying her Christmas bin, too!

Be sure and visit Homeschool Share for your December activity calendar!

Artist Study: Rockwell

2011-12-01T20:31:00.000-08:00

In November we focused on Norman Rockwell for our artist study.

We read a chapter of this biography each day. It was really interesting and included lots of pictures.

A few more biographies--we didn't read these, but looked through them.

These books are both fictional stories based on Rockwell's paintings. In the storybook one, there are many paintings and a short vignette for each one. If we do more with Rockwell later on (which I'm sure we will since Jack enjoyed it so much), I will probably have Jack write his own stories about some of the pictures.

This is actually a children's book by Norman Rockwell. After we read it, we went to see what Willie (or at least his family) would sound like.

We didn't do any art projects along with our study this month because we were so busy and time got away from us. Jack really seemed to like learning about him, though. Several times he would go and get one of the biographies and look through it and he was excited to see a Norman Rockwell painting in his PE teacher's office window.

We're taking a break from artist studies for December while we focus on Christmas carols and we'll start back up in January!

All Those Secrets of the World

2011-11-30T19:21:00.000-08:00

In November we rowed All Those Secrets of the World and talked about Veterans Day. This book is out of print, but I was able to get a used copy fairly cheaply and easily and really felt it was worth it. Jane Yolen based this book on her own experience of when her father went off to war.

Jack was stunned to find out that he had sent his own dad off to a war--and we even had pictures. "I thought he went to the desert!" was his reaction. Being medical in the military is kind of a different category, so we never mentioned anything about a war since Jack was only three at the time.

We learned a lot about family history with this book. Two of his great-grandfathers served in World War II--my mom's dad on the left and Jay's mom's dad on the right.

One day my grandma told him all about life back home when four of her six brothers were away at war. She was about 12 or 13 at the time--about when this picture of her and her twin sister was taken. I am pretty sure the thing Jack will always remember is that she accidentally broke her dad's thumb when she threw some hay into the loft and didn't know he was there. Jack looked at her like he thought she was some kind of 81 year-old ninja, out breaking appendages with a flick of some straw.

We talked about horizon lines and tried out watercolor pencils for the first time.

The story takes place near the Chesapeake Bay, so we talked about estuaries. I used this site to find pictures of different animals in the Chesapeake Bay and we put their pictures where they would live in the bay.

We also listened to music from the 1940s and tied in our current artist study (Norman Rockwell) with a discussion of "Homecoming."

If you can find this one, you really should read it. It is very sweet and I teared up at the end when her dad comes home every. single. time. It's good.

Thanksgiving School

2011-11-27T01:33:00.000-08:00

We've been doing Thanksgiving school this month. Honestly, after our dinner, I was pretty much Thanksgivinged out, so maybe next year I need to not do that quite so early. Nevertheless, we started out with Cranberry Thanksgiving. We don't own this one, but we do have Cranberry Easter and Jack has enjoyed the Cranberry Christmas movie.

Lapbook pieces from Homeschool Share!

A cornucopia of twisty pictures! We worked on learning the New England states.

Ocean Spray has some good information about cranberries and at certain times you can check out the live bog cam!

We discussed setting, too. (Idea from Heather!)

We also used Evan-Moor's First Thanksgiving pockets.

We made handprint Mayflowers.

Jack's trunk with the list of items he would take with him.

Handprint turkeys--the unit had some other kind of turkey, but I went with this kind because it was flat and would fit in his notebook easily and Alice could do one, too.

We also made Thanksgiving story bracelets.

We read through both of these books are we were working on the items in the pockets.

These are good resources, too. We didn't read through them this year, but Jack used them for some pictures he did.

My actual Thanksgiving Day pictures are pretty few. Jack played Skip-Bo with my grandma before lunch.

After lunch he played another game with his cousin. We went to our second dinner at Jay's sister's house and were home in time for Charlie Brown.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Fun Friday: Decorating

2011-11-25T17:04:00.000-08:00

The tree is up!

Teaching Art....

2011-11-25T09:57:00.001-08:00

I have a new post up today at Metro Family Magazine about an art activity we did with our Picasso study! Check it out!

The Nina and The Pinta

2011-11-23T21:15:00.000-08:00

We braved some crazy fog this morning to visit replicas of The Nina (I don't know how to make that squiggly thingy over the n) and The Pinta, two of the ships Christopher Columbus used.

The Pinta--this is actually almost the same size as the Mayflower, which we have been reading about this week.

We had a guided tour, which was great! The kids got to try using a windlass, the tool used to raise the anchor. (I think that's right.)

The crew's quarters are below deck and Jack was really wanting to see what was down there!

This is a ballast stone, which they still use in the replicas. In the past, when explorers would get to the new world they would dump the ballast stones to make room for the things they were taking back. Later, these stones were used for streets and buildings.

Taking a whiff of the pine tar that was used to coat the boat--thankfully they don't use that anymore!

Next to the tiller, which was how they steered the ship.

Alice slept through most of the tour, but when we woke up she was fascinated by these rope-covered poles.

The Nina

Another view of The Pinta

The kids loved this hill, and thankfully we didn't have to fish any of them out of the water!

And The Winners Are....

2011-11-21T20:01:00.000-08:00

Rachel will be getting Wonderplay, Too! (and I will get to save on shipping!) and Julie will be getting Draw Write Now.

Happy Monday!

Fun Friday: 347.3 Miles

2011-11-18T20:31:00.000-08:00

Technically not all 347.3 miles were driven today, but it was all part of our road trip that started Thursday.

Our first stop was the new Oklahoma WONDERtorium in Stillwater.

This place was so much fun!

It's all in one big room, which was nice, because Jack could go play where he wanted to play and I could still keep an eye on him. And sometimes they even ended up playing together!

Alice liked picking vegetables.

She was really excited when she found beans to scoop! Sister loves her some scooping.

Trying out the chopsticks and sushi in the Japanese area. Jack had just done this in his geography class this week!

Jack figured out just where to stand so the balls and scarves would hit him when they came out of the air tubes.

Water table--When she was done here, Alice took off her shirt and gave it to me so I could dry it under the hand dryer.

There was an old fashioned washing machine in the farm area. Can I just tell you how glad I am to have a modern washing machine? So glad.

The kids liked gathering eggs. On the other side of this wall was the general store and you could put the eggs in slots there and they could come out in the hen house.

Playing store

Alice loved playing with the babies.

She also liked playing with the pager and the computer. I think she may be hitting Jay up for a job in a few years.

I piled the leaves on the bottom of the slide for her about 76 times.

We loved this museum! It is much closer than Jasmine Moran and the small size is much more manageable if you're taking the kids on your own, so I think this is going to be a new favorite spot.

The kids went to Eskimo Joe's for the first time for dinner.

Part of the point of making this an overnight trip was getting to swim at the hotel. I thought I was so prepared by remembering flip flops for me, until I realized I had brought sandals from two different pairs--and both of them were for the right foot! Thankfully the pool was right across from the elevator, which was right by our room.

I also forgot Alice's turtle swim ring, even though she talks about it every week when Jack has gym class and she sees one exactly like it in the gym office. We had a good time anyway.

This morning we set off again. Perry was not on the itinerary. Oops. Thankfully the kids were patient, which may or may not have been because I bought them a bag of Reese's cups when we stopped at a gas station for directions.

We went back to Leonardo's!

Alice was not as keen on the animals this time. I'm sure they weren't sure what to think of her, either.

Pilots!

Alice recognized this costume and made up a song to sing on stage.

Since it wasn't 200 degrees this time, playing outside was much more fun.

If you see Alice in person, you should ask her about this bridge. That's all I'm going to tell you.

After all that playing we were worn out and not really up for the two hour drive home. We made it, though, and now it's time to catch up on all the stuff I left undone!

New Blogs and Giveaways!

2011-11-18T01:15:00.000-08:00

Today is the day my first post will be up at the new Homeschool Share blog! (If the text link doesn't take you there, try the button in the sidebar. I'm scheduling this early since the kids and I will be having a fun day today!)

Since this week marks four years since I started blogging here and the first week of blogging for Homeschool Share and Metro Family Magazine, I have two giveaways for you.

If you would like to win a copy of Draw Write Now (Book 1) or Wonderplay, Too!, please leave a comment by 10 pm (central time) Monday, November 21. Let me know which book you would like to win (you can be in both drawings, but can only win once) and please make sure I have a way to contact you!

And speaking of giveaways, have you entered the current giveaway at Homeschool Share? I really wish I could win, but since I can't, I hope you do!

Adventures in Homeschooling with MetroFamily Magazine

2011-11-14T14:52:00.000-08:00

In addition to blogging for Homeschool Share (where my first post should be up on Friday), I'm now blogging for MetroFamily Magazine! I will be one of their homeschool bloggers for the Adventures in Homeschooling section. Why take on another (non-paying, like all of my jobs!) writing job? Well, my friend, the fabulous Mari, happens to be the editor, and I hate to turn her down. And really, it's a great opportunity to give non-homeschooling families a glimpse of what we do every day--or at least a sanitized version of it with pictures taken after I've cleared the photo area of clutter. I'm also hoping that all parents can find some fun things to do with their kids, no matter where they go to school. Posts should be up weekly, so I hope you'll check it out!

Versatile Blogger Award

2011-11-14T09:53:00.000-08:00

{unrelated picture}

Phyllis was recently kind enough to pass the Versatile Blogger Award on to me. Honestly, I have been trying to cut back on my blog reading, so I can't give you 15 new blogs to check out. You should definitely check out All Things Beautiful, though--by Phyllis--because she has so many great ideas!

Seven Things About Me--This might be hard to come up with something new!

If I were ever a crazy woman, I'd change my name to Phyllis and dye my hair red. I don't know what's for dinner tonight, but I do have a plan for my evil alter-ego. (Though I have not met the real Phyllis, I am pretty sure she has never run someone down like Y&R Phyllis has.)
My classes for my first semester of college were planned around The Young and the Restless.
I am absurdly excited that my library will be getting key chain cards soon!
My car has 151,000+ miles on it.
I haven't flown in over 10 years.
We watched Spy Kids three times this weekend.
Jack doesn't know it, but I'm going to the bookstore while he's in geography class today.

Happy Monday!

Fun Friday: 11/11/11

2011-11-11T19:33:00.000-08:00

This Friday was pretty low-key. Nothing cosmic happened at 11:11, though I was holding out hope that at that moment my house would suddenly be clean or Alice would suddenly be potty-trained.

The kids discovered curler fingers.

Jay had the day off, so while he and Jack worked and played Animal Crossing, Alice and I went to Target--which was an excuse to get her in the car so she would fall asleep.

This evening we went out to dinner.

The kids were both out before we got home, so it should be an early morning tomorrow!

Veterans Day

2011-11-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

"War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares about more than his personal safety; is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. "

- John Stuart Mill

Heaven and Hell

2011-11-09T20:38:00.000-08:00

As I was watching Castle Monday night, Jay told me I should take a picture of the screen. Because not only were we under thunderstorm, tornado, and flood watches and warnings....

...we'd also just had another earthquake. He says we live in hell, and after two earthquakes and such strong winds that I keep thinking we're having another earthquake--and then, of course, getting on Facebook to see if it was, in fact, another earthquake--I'm making fun of him less and less when he gripes about the weather.

Thankfully, though, when the ground isn't shaking and the sky isn't pouring, life is good. Jack looked almost angelic doing his work today. (I would tell you that the mess in the school room is from the earthquakes, but that would be a flat out lie.)

When I was cleaning the bathroom, the kids were so quiet I came in to check on them. For possibly the first time ever, Jack was playing his DS and Alice was not screaming to play with it and he was not screaming back about her never being allowed in his room again. I even mopped the bathroom floor. I love you, Atlantis Squarepantis.

The Giraffe That Walked To Paris

2011-11-08T07:23:00.000-08:00

We recently finished up The Giraffe That Walked To Paris. This book is out of print, but there are some similar books on the same topic if you can't get your hands on it.

Most of Jack's notebook items came from Homeschool Share.

I found this map which was great for charting the giraffe's trip across the Mediterranean Sea!

This was one of the books covering the same story that we read. The facts were the same, but we decided we liked the way The Giraffe That Walked To Paris told the story better because there was more detail.

A few books from the library

To wrap up our week, we went to see the giraffes at the zoo. We just happened to arrive at their area at the time the keeper talk was starting--totally not planned! We got to see them get their treats and we talked to the zookeeper a bit.

We were close!

Here you can see the difference between male (left) and female (right) ossicones.

These giraffes are new to our zoo as of this summer. Unfortunately, two giraffes died recently--one from the cold and one from problems during travel, which was an interesting tie-in to the giraffe's travel in the book.

Thanksgiving Dinner

2011-11-06T19:33:00.000-08:00

Today was our family Thanksgiving dinner.

When we started doing this six years ago, it took me two days and tons of work. Now I think I could do it in my sleep. It's still yummy, though!

While I was cleaning up, Jay took the kids out to swing.

The turkey got the best of Alice and she was out cold!

We have lots of Thanksgiving fun and crafts planned for the next couple of weeks!
Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. Did you read this pos t on kids and gratitude? You should!

Maybe Not Such A Good Idea

2011-11-06T04:29:00.000-08:00

Along with the under counter lighting, I love my kitchen cabinets. Suddenly, though, glass stuff sitting on glass shelves behind glass doors doesn't seem like the best decision.

Last night I was about to shut down the computer when I heard a rumble. I didn't think a lot of it because sometimes we get some pretty big trucks on our road. When things started to shake, though, I knew it wasn't a truck. For at least 30 seconds, the whole house shook--I could hear the dishes rattling in the kitchen the whole time. When it stopped, I ran upstairs to check on the kids (who slept through it). Jay and I turned on the news and it seems we had a 5.6 earthquake!

Really, tornadoes aren't too bad. You have at least a brief warning that something's going to happen. I could live the rest of my life without another earthquake, though!

Artist Study: Picasso

2011-11-05T20:23:00.000-07:00

We studied Picasso during the month of October. Jack enjoyed learning this more than the Mozart study because there were more fun projects. Maybe we'll focus more on artists this year--flexibility is a big advantage in homeschooling!

Some of the books we used. The Dropping in on Picasso DVD was fun!

The Boy Who Bit Picasso was probably the best book we read.

This one was sort of a game book. You see a close-up of a piece of art and try to guess what it is before you see the entire work. Several of the pieces were easy for us because we had seen them in The Boy Who Bit Picasso.

I ordered this one for Alice. It's really more of a farm theme--the rooster painting is the only Picasso--but she enjoyed it.

I came across this how-to book at the museum gift shop last week.

One week we painted Picasso cookies!

Celebrating Picasso's birthday (October 25) with cake

We did a variation of an idea I had seen in several places.

Jack liked recreating some of Picasso's drawings.

We also got to see a couple of Picasso's works of art.

It was fun to be able to see them in person!

A few other fun things:

Jimmie's Picasso Study

Blue Guitars

Three Musicians Collage

Picasso Face Pictures

Picassohead

~~~~~

Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel.
~Pablo Picasso

Book Lover's Day

2011-11-05T04:50:00.000-07:00

(We love books around here.)

According to the calendar on the Homeschool Share blog (check it out now!), today is Book Lover's Day. Really, I don't need an excuse to buy books. In fact, I got a couple of new ones just this week at our favorite used bookstore!

Amber, who enables me in my book habit, has a great book list going. I especially love cozy mysteries and my stack of books to read is ridiculously huge. I am going to try not to add to it when I am doing the shopping today. Really.

Happy reading!

Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.*
~ Arnold Lobel

*I really hope this won't happen, and if it does, I will not be posting about it.

Fun Friday: Books to Treasure

2011-11-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the annual Books to Treasure program. As a second grader, Jack got a free copy of Lissy's Friends and he was able to get a special library card that looks like the poster above.

Usually we try to not torture Alice (or ourselves) by bringing her to something like this, but we had no choice tonight. We got there early so I could get an aisle seat in case (really, I mean when) I had to take Alice outside.

This year's illustrator was Grace Lin. We had read several of her books before.

I tried to buy Alice's silence with fruit snacks--doled out covertly since food isn't allowed in the auditorium--but they didn't last the entire time and we ended up walking the hall. Jack gave me a pretty good run down on the way home, though.

This year we were almost at the very front of the book signing line! This was a big change from previous years.

They also had a big container of tiny origami cranes for the kids!

We were out the door by 8:00! I felt bad for the people at the end of the line--it went all the way out into the lobby--but I was sooooo glad not to have to entertain Alice in line very long!

National Housewife Day

2011-11-03T03:30:00.000-07:00

I think I can understand that feeling about a housewife’s work being like that of Sisyphus (who was the stone rolling gentleman). But it is surely, in reality, the most important work in the world. What do ships, railways, mines, cars, government etc exist for except that people may be fed, warmed, and safe in their own homes? As Dr Johnson said, ‘To be happy at home is the end of all human endeavour’. (1st to be happy, to prepare for being happy in our own real Home hereafter: 2nd, in the meantime, to be happy in our houses.) We wage war in order to have peace, we work in order to have leisure, we produce food in order to eat it. So your job is the one for which all others exist.
~ C.S. Lewis

~~~

(Confession time: I knew right off the bat who Sisyphus was because I saw it on an episode of Arthur.)

I do a lot of waiting.

In the car...

At birthday parties...

At the store...

And then I go home and do exciting things like laundry and dusting. Well, I don't really do a lot of dusting, but I think about dusting fairly often, and that should count for something.

Really, a monkey could do my job; it's pretty much the same eight to ten tasks repeated over and over. That's what makes it hard. I could probably live the rest of my life without the thrill of grocery shopping, but I do it every week--sometimes more than once. Paying bills isn't fun. Driving kids all over town gets old fast.

So why do it?

Because sixth on my list of repeated tasks is outside time.

Because after I've brought home the groceries and cooked a meal, I get to eat it with the three best people.

Because when the bills are paid on time, the house is warm and the lights are on.

Because when we drive all over town, we have all kinds of fun adventures.

Because I love them, and I want them to be happy at home.

Sisyphus may have been working out his punishment, but I get to do this job every single day. And it is important.

Happy Housewife Day!

Please Pardon My Mistake

2011-11-01T09:51:00.001-07:00

It seems that the candy picture I posted last night was actually Alice's haul. Here is Jack's, the whole bucket and a half.

Both kids were up early this morning asking about candy. And then we had to go to speech. I was not ready for the morning!

Since Tuesdays are a short school day here, I decided to scrap our original plans and do some candy school, since they were wanting to look at their candy anyway. Sometimes it's not worth it to fight them!

Halloween Fun

2011-10-31T20:34:00.000-07:00

Jack really enjoys Halloween, so we've been having some fun lately. We painted pumpkins!

The kids cleaned our pumpkin out--Alice was not sure what to think about it.

Jack found a picture he liked in a book, so Jay drew it on and carved it.

We had supper by the light of the jack o'lantern!

This morning we had pumpkin pancakes for breakfast--and then pop tarts, because the kids didn't really care for the pancakes and I didn't care to create even more of a mess in the kitchen!

Remembering how squirrely kids are at school on Halloween, we went to the zoo today to wrap up our giraffe unit.

We were pretty impressed by all the decorations for the Halloween event. The kids LOVED the Scooby section--Scooby was even in the van!

For supper we had mummy meatloaf, and then it was off to our friends' house for trick or treating.

Luke and Leia!

Jack would probably trick or treat all night if he could. Alice did a pretty good job, though she often told people about her bubba instead of saying, "Trick or treat!" When we stopped at our friends' mom's house, we borrowed a wagon, which made things a lot easier!

The stash--one and a half buckets of candy!

Happy Halloween! And don't forget that the Homeschool Share blog goes live tomorrow!

Alice School

2011-10-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

{Alice in her self-styled costume.}

As Jack was in PE this week, I was out in the hall talking with Alice. A lady walked up and said, "Is she doing her sight words yet?" At first I didn't say anything, because I thought she must be on the phone or something, because few toddlers know their sight words. Then she stopped and said, "Is she working on blends?" She was talking to me! About Alice! I was so genuinely surprised, I didn't say anything for a minute. Finally I said, "She's two!" "Oh, yes, but she's so verbal!" She went on to tell me about how I could use some Classical Conversations thing and she's be reading in no time. Um, no, thanks.

If your toddler wants to learn to read, that's great. But for most toddlers, mine included, learning is much more fun when you're doing. Sitting still is for suckers, and my girl's no sucker. Most days Alice tags along where she can with what Jack is doing. She recognizes the Five in a Row books we've done and loves to listen. I've been doing go-alongs for her where we can and she's having fun, even if she doesn't know what sound br- makes.

I'm trying to get out the messy stuff more often. She is pretty good about not running off while she's covered in paint.

Playing with her new farm felt set

Both kids loved this monster game I found for super cheap a while back!

One of her favorite things to do is cut tiny pieces of paper and then color them--with crayons she has peeled. It makes a mess, but her "work" keeps her busy for quite a while, so it's helpful when Jack and I are trying to get something done!

And, of course, there's lots of reading going on!

Fun Friday: A Perfect Day

2011-10-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

Today's Fun Friday had us on the go almost all day long!

We started with breakfast with friends at IHOP, where they had free scary face pancakes--perfect price!

Then it was on to Philbrook, where they had a new exhibit!

The kids also took some time to make some art of their own.

We've been studying Picasso this month and we were able to see two today--perfect tie-in!

We spent lots of time outside today.

The weather was pretty much perfect.

The scenery was pretty much perfect.

The kids were pretty much perfect. There were 10 of them, and at the end of the exhibit, the security guard came up and complimented us on how well behaved they all were.

After that, we had more outside time at the arboretum.

Berries!

Halloween Oreos!

High five for perfect days!

Five More Days!

2011-10-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

You've heard me rave about Homeschool Share many times, and now it is getting even better! Tuesday, November 1, Homeschool Share's new blog will go live! I am so excited to be a part of the team and can't wait to see all come together.

I will be writing a book review each month on "a book worth reading"--usually for kids, but sometimes for moms, too. When Ami asked me about doing this, she said she wanted reviews of twaddle-free, living books. At that moment I was reading--and I promise I'm not making this up--Naked Heat, the second Castle book. And yes, I'm picking up the third one at the library soon.

So why would a twaddle-reading person who has trouble writing for other people agree to write book reviews? I love children's books. At one point I was actually going to library school and planning to be a school librarian. Once I was even offered a job as a school librarian! Probably I'm never going to be a librarian, but now I can tell people about great books without worrying about who's looking at what on the computer or which teacher is hogging all the Civil War books.

The other reason I agreed to do this is because of all of the hard work Ami has put into Homeschool Share over the years. This is such an amazing--and FREE--resource for so many people. Candace has done a great job of listing all of the different kinds of resources on the site, and if you haven't checked it out, you really, really need to! If there is anything I can do to help her out, I am glad to do it and I am honored to be a part of such a great group of ladies.

The blog will go live on Tuesday, but if you head over now, you can download the November calendar, chock full of all kinds of activities to do and goodies to make!

Voice

2011-10-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

I feel obligated to include a picture in most blog posts if I can, but all I could find for this one is this snapshot someone took of us (our high school choir from church) singing in a mall in Anchorage. This was a year after we spent a week touring prisons. Seriously. Anyway, on to the post...

Recently I've been a part of discussions about and have read posts on why people have blogs. Obviously, there are lots of bloggers who are trying to make money from their writing, either from links or merchandise. There are those who love to be in the various blog contests and want you to vote for them once a day from every computer in your house. Really, those kinds of blogs are okay to me. I visit some of them regularly because they have lots of resources I can use and I really do appreciate the time and effort some of these women put into their blogs. The blogs I really enjoy reading, though, are the ones where you feel like you're sitting down for a chat with the writer and hearing firsthand about what happened in their day.

When I started to blog almost four years ago, it was because Jay was going to be in Kuwait for several months and we wanted a way for him to see what we were doing each day. Since then, it's become a substitute scrapbook, a school portfolio, and a place to put random thoughts. I think it's fun that other people read it, but really, it's for me now. If all seven readers told me tomorrow that they no longer cared what I had to say, I'd still write.

In the last month or so, a couple of different writing opportunities have come my way (more on that as things actually start posting) and I've found it's really a lot harder to write for an "assignment" than it is to write for myself. When I write here, I don't edit a great deal (hence the rampant use of "a lot") and I don't worry too much about things being exactly right. When I write for someone else, though, I hear my 12th grade English teacher whispering in my ear. In case you think you know what I'm talking about, let me tell you, you don't--well, maybe a couple of people who will read this do. This teacher was infamous. She chose her students for her AP class and she worked us hard. To her credit, we became good writers, and some of us even became "real" writers.

I was a pretty good writer in high school thanks to her. The stuff (again, my lack of editing shows poor word choice) I quickly dashed out for college courses would have gotten me a B or C for my senior year class, but it earned me an A every time there. She committed a major faux pas (should that be in italics?) in my eyes, though. At the end of our senior year she found out Jay and I were dating and she told me to, and I quote, "be careful." That deserves italics, people. Be. careful. What??? Watch out or you might have a great life? Beware of those cute kids! Danger! Nice house alert!! Um, yeah. Perhaps I could spin that to mean that she was worried that if I ended up with Jay, I wouldn't have enough angst to make me the fabulous writer she knew I could be. Ahem. So, yeah, I think she was just plain nuts, which makes me question her when she's muttering in my year. If she was wrong about Jay, is she wrong about that idiom, too?

When I'm writing for others, I notice my to be verbs and I worry about comma placement instead of focusing on my voice. I'm worried that my piece will be a 6 or a 7 instead of a 9. Voice is what makes it a 9. I think that when I blog here, you hear my voice, but I don't know about in other places yet. Honestly, the post I just submitted took me almost a week to write and it was just a few paragraphs. It didn't sound like me to me, but it was grammatically correct and I was tired of messing with it, so I turned it in. Hopefully it will get easier with time!

Friday Fun: Camping

2011-10-21T19:57:00.000-07:00

Friday Fun actually started on Thursday night this week. The kids went camping in Grandma and Grandpa's yard!

I'm not sure if I like this picture or not, because Jack looks really old in it! They liked tossing logs (and leaves and walnuts and anything else) on the fire.

Alice and Piers got chilly, so they warmed up in the camper with Grandpa.

It was not so chilly that you didn't get roasted along with your marshmallows, though.

After the sun went down the campfire felt good!

Jack and Hope told some spooky stories.

They look ready for bed, don't they?

Well, they weren't! Thankfully my mom was the photographer here and I was inside with Alice, who fell asleep while the big kids were watching a movie. You know I was really sad to be sleeping inside and not out where the temperatures were in the 30s!

The kids all lasted the night in the camper, but they had a LOT of blankets on!

Alice was up bright and early (well, dark and early, really) and couldn't wait for the big kids to get up and play with her.

The kids spent the morning playing. I got to go grocery shopping all by myself!

Grandpa brought lunch from Sonic!

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa for a super fun Friday!

The Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to the pumpkin patch!

Just like last year, Jack loved the hay house!

I snapped this picture of him on one of his runs through the house.

Alice was content to stay outside and practice her scarecrow skills.

Alice has been talking about going "ring around the rosy on horses" since we went to the Scottish Festival. She was so excited!

She got to take a couple of rides, and she sang almost the whole time.

Jack enjoyed the horses, too!

Though she will play with her brother, Alice isn't always sure about other kids.

She and Lydia did play alongside each other!

We took some time to feed the animals.

Jack had them eating right out of his hand!

Hayride time!

When we were all done, we loaded up our wagon with pumpkins to take home!

Henry the Castaway

2011-10-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

On the spur of the moment, I decided we'd row Henry the Castaway last week.

Since last Monday was Columbus Day, we read this book and then continued with the explorer theme for the week.

There aren't really any printables I could find, so I made up a few things.

Jack's list of qualities an explorer should have

Though there isn't a specific place named in the story, we mapped the Orinoco River in Venezuela since that's where Henry imagines he is exploring.

We have also been using the activities from this book and Jack has really enjoyed them!

We made salt dough maps, too. This was our first attempt at salt dough and it was fun!

They painted their creations today.

Someone posted a link to cardboard boats on the FIAR boards and we tried building them on a smaller scale. This was harder than I thought it would be, so I ended up being the builder! We went to the park one day to float them in the creek.

They found a few spots where there was enough of a current for the boats to pick up some speed.

Since I had switched our plans at the last minute, we didn't have many go-alongs. This book is a good one for learning about water and rivers. There are also several other Henry books available!

We had a fun time with Henry!

Friday Fun

2011-10-14T19:13:00.000-07:00

Way back in the dark ages when I was teaching, we had Friday Fun Time. Really this was just an extra recess on Friday afternoon designed to get squirrely children outside and give teachers a little bit of extra time to get some things done before the weekend. I'm trying something a little different.

I'm trying to plan something fun for each Friday--not necessarily going somewhere, because that can make me want to pull my hair out some days. A craft, a snack, just something a little different from the rest of the week.

Today we listened to "It Came From Beneath the Bed!" and made tissue paper candy corns. These are going to look really neat when the sun shines through them!

After baths this evening, we had pumpkin pie shakes.

And to wrap things up, we watched Spooky Buddies. Not exactly high art, but Jack LOVES these movies and has been looking forward to this one.

Have a great weekend!

Outside the Box

2011-10-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

"Energy and persistence conquer all things." ~ Benjamin Franklin

I need a white flag. I can't keep up. When Jack was this age, he was getting pretty close to giving up naps. Unlike his sister, though, he would get up around 7:30 or 8:00 and go to bed by 7:00. But not this one. Yesterday she got up at 5:00--4:57, to be exact. She fell asleep eating her lunch, right before we had to leave for class and errands. When I had to dress her, 10 minutes after she dozed off, she woke up and kept going strong until 7:30.

Today she slept in until 6:30. She rode around in the car this morning and this afternoon. She ran around the gym, danced in the lobby, chased balls, and climbed bleachers. She finally gave out about 8:15. Add to this the stomach bug that Jack has picked up, and I think I've been conquered. If my captors could keep up with the cooking and housework on their own, I think I could go along with it!

~~~~~

"I've got mad energy for days. That's what people can't get their minds around. They say, 'Oh, he's going to crash.' They try to apply all these common terms to a guy who is not common. I don't fit into their little box." ~ Charlie Sheen

Cinderella Stories

2011-10-06T13:21:00.000-07:00

Last week Jack and I went to see a play of Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters.

We have been to a few plays through this series and we've always enjoyed them.

We're in between FIAR books right now, so we took a couple of days and discussed Cinderella stories using these books.

We didn't list it here, but Jack really thought it was important to note that he liked the actors in the play much better than the characters in the book!

If you've never read the story, you can see the Reading Rainbow episode here!

Rocks!

2011-10-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

After rowing When I Was Young in the Mountains and Wee Gillis, we took some time to study rocks and mountains. I found this fun lesson guide at The Teacher Wife's store and we used many of the pages to keep track of what Jack was learning. I put the little rock characters (the ones you see on the picture above) on the wall along with the rock cycle diagram (also included in the packet) and he really liked those and had the types of rocks and how they were made memorized right away!

We spent some time looking at rock samples--the fossil was from Jack's camp class this year and I picked up the rock kit at the museum gift shop.

This Janice VanCleave book has lots of great rock experiments!

We tried out the erosion experiment and other than splattering the kitchen floor, it worked pretty well.

We also did a lot of cooking over the course of the unit. All About Rocks had directions for this yummy sedimentary snack.

Tracey has many fun ideas for studying rocks on her blog--such as making brownies when we learned about metamorphic rocks...

...and making fudge when we learned about igneous rocks!

Some of the books we used

And a few more--you can watch the Reading Rainbow episode for the Magic School Bus Inside the Earth here. (Sorry about the twisty picture--I tried twice and gave up!)

Today we wrapped up with some fossil cookies. I didn't actually use the nice stony-looking recipe that Martha made, nor did I make sure my insects were "food safe"--I figure if Alice has chewed on them plain as much as she has, they aren't going to hurt her if I mash them in the cookie dough for a minute.

Ta da! They turned out pretty cute! I found this idea on Homeschool Share's October Calendar (on October 12, which is National Fossil Day). If you haven't checked out the new calendar, you need to! It's full of fun ideas--October 21 is National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day, and I noticed on the pumpkin bread mix box I got the other day that they have a recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins!

I picked up this Magic Rocks kit at Mardel a while back when I had a coupon and we set it up this afternoon.

Ours hasn't turned out quite like the one on the box (though this was just an hour or so after it started), which I think is probably due to my guesstimation of the water temperature. We had fun anyway!

Wildlife at the Window

2011-10-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

We've had this window feeder for a while now, and it's mildly popular with the birds. We've had another visitor recently, too! About a week ago, Jay spotted this little guy climbing the screen, but he seemed to think the feeder was a little to far away for him. Apparently he worked on his jumping skills, because we've spotted him at the feeder a few times this weekend. Today he stayed long enough for us to get lots of pictures!

He drives Boris crazy.

No matter what, that mouse won't give him the time of day. It kind of messes with your tough cat image to be an inch from a mouse who is oblivious to your existence--even when you're batting the window.

We watched him eat for a long time and he didn't pay any attention to us.

I finally tapped on the window and got this surprised look--and then he went back to eating!

Hopefully our friend will stay outside!

Composer Study: Mozart

2011-09-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

Composer and Artist Study is something new we've added in this year. Each month we'll spend a bit of time learning about a famous composer or artist. Right now we're doing this once a week, and my main goal is exposure. Eventually we will do more formal lessons, but at this point I just want him to become familiar with a variety of famous artists and composers and to enjoy them. We started with Mozart because Jack already knew a bit about him thanks to Moonlight on the Magic Flute. Jay put this bulletin board up for me and I'll switch it out each month.

Since I'm trying to keep this fun, we're not doing much written work. If you are looking for lapbooking or notebooking things, Jimmie has some great ideas! As Jack gets older, I am thinking we will start a notebook on composers and artists.

Some of the books we read over the month--we especially enjoyed Mozart Finds A Melody and Mozart: The Wonder Child.

Probably Jack's favorite thing about this time is that we usually have a "tea time" along with it. We have some kind of special treat--though it's never been tea--and read a story and listen to some music. We also listed to some of the programs from Classics for Kids. (Both kids look a little sugared-out here.)

Jack made a request for pumpkin pie--his favorite!

One week we made these yummy acorn snacks.

I keep all of our related books in one basket, which I store under this end table. It works well to keep these together but not out in the school room where Alice can easily pull them out and put them in a hiding spot. When our day for composer study rolls around, I can actually find what I'm looking for!

Next up: Picasso!

Wee Gillis

2011-09-28T18:31:00.000-07:00

Last week we wrapped up Wee Gillis.

We used printables from HomeschoolShare for Jack's notebook.

One day we looked for differences in these two similar pictures. (Our library has a DVD of Wee Gillis and they did a good job of recreating these pictures in it!)

One morning Jack tried oatmeal, just like Wee Gillis. He really had to psych himself up to take a bite, though!

Later the same morning, Jack spotted a deer on our way into town! We thought maybe that meant he was suited to be a highlander.

We read The Magic Bagpipe, which is a story about a boy going to a piper competition. We were going to make this cute bagpipe craft, but life got in the way.

Breathe In, Breathe Out is a nice simple book explaining how your lungs work.

I found an experiment for testing your lung capacity in the FIAR archives, so we gave that a try!

Of course, we also went to the Scottish Festival during our time with Wee Gillis. To celebrate, the Golden Driller was outfitted with the world's largest kilt, but when we went to see it in person, they had already taken it down!

They Were Strong and Good

2011-09-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

We recently rowed They Were Strong and Good, the 1941 Caldecott Medal winner.

Jack mapped the states listed in the story and then mapped out where his family members were born.

Homeplace is a neat book that shows how one places changes over time. After we read this and talked about changes we saw in They Were Strong and Good, we took our field trip to see how our town had changed. You should also take a look at Let's Go Home, by Cynthia Rylant and Wendy Anderson Halperin if you like this one.

Who's Who in My Family is very helpful with all those terms like second cousin and first cousin once removed!

Tilt your head and you can see the family tree Jack made--he was offended that Alice wasn't on there, so he added her.

Alice made more of a family scattering.

~~~~~~~

"None of them were famous, but they were strong and good. They worked hard and had many children. They all helped to make the United States the great nation that it now is. Let us be proud of them and guard well the heritage they have left us."
~ Robert Lawson, They Were Strong and Good

Hello, There

2011-09-23T18:23:00.000-07:00

You can't tell it by most of the trees, but fall is finally here. The leaves are going to be green for a while still, but there are a few early birds around.

The main change is the temperature. We went to the park for three hours today.

When we got in the car to leave, it was 78 degrees.

That's about 40 degrees cooler than it was just a month and a half ago.

It's so nice to play outside in the middle of the day.

No hot swings!

No sweaty kid smell when you get back in the car!

I really, really, really love fall!

Off to the Races

2011-09-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

(This picture doesn't really have much to do with anything. I just thought it was cute--maybe not so much as we were getting soaked while waiting for her to cross the schoolyard, but now that I'm dry and she's asleep, it's much cuter.)

For once, I'm going to share a post on the day I actually read it! I've been reading Kelle Hampton's blog for a while now, and today I think I injured my neck from my vehement nods while reading this. I can't fit it all in. Just when I think I have, something (or more than one something) falls apart.

I loved Kelle's Kentucky Derby comparison so much I was thinking maybe I should rig up some kind of little horses on string to hang in the entry. Jay could come in and see that Ole Swiffer was in the lead and Lord Laundry was holding his own, but Dinnertime Dandy was doing poorly and we were just having Hamburger Helper to eat.

Today was a day where most of my horses were a little pokey. Some were downright lame and worried about being shot. It rained all night and would have been the perfect day to stay home and read, but we had to go to speech and run errands. As I was getting dressed, Alice was curled in our blankets singing, "I love my family!" It was adorable, but I had to hustle her off for a diaper change so we could leave. I don't know how moms who have their kids in school get them there on time each morning. Speech--all three times we've been so far--has given me a whole new empathy for my frequently tardy students. I thought I was doing pretty well today--I was dressed acceptably and wearing makeup, but as I signed Jack in at the school, it dawned on me that my hair looked exactly the way it did at 6:50 this morning when Alice woke me up and I fumbled for a hair band (this kind, not this kind). Poor Sir Style loses again.

Tomorrow is another day, though, and the horses will ride again. If you want an inside tip, though, stay away from Sir Style and Ole Swiffer.

Life, Interrupted

2011-09-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

We've been going like crazy lately. Not necessarily things I had planned, but that's how it goes sometimes.

We took advantage of the lovely weather one day and hit the splash pad.

Much to Jack's delight, we ended up on the news that evening--for a story about smoke in the area, not because of Alice, who is mysteriously missing in the video they aired.

Later in the week the weather was cold and rainy and the printer/scanner broke, throwing off our plans to make a family tree, so we took some friends up on their invitation to go to an indoor play place.

Some days call for leaving schoolwork behind for impromptu concerts.

Can you really concentrate on your assignments when there is a black light room calling your name?

Monday we used our free aquarium tickets, which were a day away from expiring. The aquarium is pretty expensive and we hadn't been in a year, so we didn't want them to go to waste.

This is the first week we've had all of our regular activities going. Jack has speech twice a week, a geography class every other week, and PE once a week.

And then there are the cars...Jay got home Monday night to find that his car wouldn't turn off. He took my car to work Tuesday and called to say that it scared him, so we may be back at a garage or a dealership soon--I kind of hope it's the garage, because I've had this car for nine years and I may look like this when it goes.

Now Canon has sent me a new printer, Jay's car is running (and turning off) fine, and I think we've finally caught up on the odds and ends from the last couple of books we've rowed. Hopefully I will get everything into Jack's notebook soon and I will share what we've been doing!

The Caber Toss

2011-09-17T21:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the laughing. You might want to make sure your volume is turned down.