Homeschool Newbie

Fun food

2013-05-22T10:35:00.002-04:00

If you read last week, you know we have been doing a unit study on the United Kingdom. If you've never done a unit study I highly recommend it. I really like unit studies by Amanda Bennett. They have a good format and are full of interesting information on tons of fun topics.

Our study is a geography unit study so there is a good deal of mapping involved, but when we did the first day of the study I was so pleased to see a page dedicated to interesting foods of the area.

I love to cook so food projects are more my forte than a previous project we did which you can read about here: I have to make what?

The first food we had was Bangers and Mash. If it sounds strange don't worry, if you like sausages and mashed potatoes then this is a meal for you because that is exactly what it is. Very easy and...it's funny to see look on peoples' faces when you tell them what you're making for supper. The interesting tidbit we learned about this meal is that the sausages are called bangers because during wartime they had so much water in them that they would explode while being cooked. lol.

Bubbles and Squeak was what we found on the food page the next day.
A fun name for a fun food that uses up leftovers. It is made with potatoes and a green veggie plus what ever else you throw in. Really it's like a potato pancake. So yummy! We made it for lunch with eggs and bacon and the girl asked me to make it again at dinner time. Here's a recipe if you want to give it a try. I think it will be added into our regular meal rotation even if it's only so we can say "bubbles and squeak".

Scones were next on the list, but I was a little short on time so what did I do? I hopped in the car and headed straight for my trusty Publix. Because, well, Publix has an awesome deli and they carry fancy things that this southern buttermilk biscuit girl wouldn't usually eat. With that being said, I really liked the scones! The kids liked them too. We got the blueberry ones, if you have a Publix and haven't tried them you should.

Do your kids like to help you cook? Have you cooked any fun foods lately? I love being able to incorporate what we are studying into everything, even dinner. :)

April

A Salt Dough Map

2013-05-14T19:48:00.001-04:00

Salt Dough.

What kind of dough? People make this on purpose? Can't we just color a coloring page map instead? Those were my thoughts after reading the instructions in our unit study on the United Kingdom.

The silly words "fun family project" kept screaming at me from the page though and I relented and said "ok let's make a salt dough map!" Which caused delighted squeals to erupt from my hands on learner. (the other "not really a hands on" kid was excited too because this project was the last thing on our assignment list for the day. (-;)

You see, I'm not good at projects. Actually if I am being honest I loathe them. When my kids were in public school and had projects to do my husband would take the reigns because he is the one who excels at feather covered turkeys, volcano building and any kind of diorama you can think of. I on the other hand would rather make the snacks that are needed for such hard work. :-)

Since said husband was busy working this project fell into my lap. So what did I do, I fell to my knees covered my face and screamed "Nooooooooo" of course.

Ok not really, it was more along the lines of "if this is a big flop it better be a fun one". I did, however, inform my artsy girl who likes to color and paint, that I was sorry in advance for the failure that might be our salt dough map. She assured me that we could it because "I like to paint and you like to cook mom!".

Uh yeah. We'll see...

So we dove right in.

I sent the kids to the garage to search for a piece of cardboard and I pulled out the flour and the salt.

Then we traced the outline on to the cardboard.

The dough was actually pretty easy to do. I followed Kris's directions over at weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.

Then we our hands got a little sticky pressing the dough into our traced country.

We let it dry for a few days. Ok, so it was dry the next morning, but we got side tracked doing some other projects that included cooking which is much more my forte.

Anyways...we let it dry for a few days and the girl painted it.

All in all it turned out great for our first adventure into salt dough mapping.

It was messy and fun and we will be doing more of them.

Have you had to do any school stuff that is not really your thing? Remember it can be fun to try new things, plus you never know, you may enjoy that one school thing you are dreading so...go for it. Make a mess, laugh and giggle with with your little people.

April

It is ok!

2013-04-29T09:19:00.000-04:00

New routines. Sometimes, one small change throws a kink in the chain of a smooth running homeschool routine! ;-)

The small change for us this semester has been adding classes at one of the local coops.

Good classes, only 2.5 hours every Friday. Who knew they would throw the week off so much! Now, don't start thinking that school is not getting done, because it is.

It is just that tons of other things have gotten put on the back burner...

For instance, dusting. Oh come on don't act like that pretty trinket or picture frame in the room where you are currently sitting isn't covered with dust! But, on the off chance that there is no dust to be found then come on over because I need ya!

And don't forget laundry. Yes I know laundry must be done, but why do we have to wear a new set of clothes everyday? How 'bout we change clothes every couple of days instead? Ok your right, because we would start to stink that's why! So maybe that idea is only good in theory!

The real point is that life changes and you have to adjust your not only your actions, but your thinking. It is ok to put off dusting that pretty angel figurine to make Irish Soda Bread with your kids on the day you study Northern Ireland.

It is ok, that your son had to get clean underwear off the top of the dryer this morning or from the pile of clean clothes in your bedroom floor, not that I have a pile of clothes in my bedroom floor but I just wanted to throw that out there in case you do - either way... it's ok that instead of getting laundry put away yesterday you went on a field trip to the Historic house downtown where the state constitution was written.

It is ok! Dusting and laundry there will always be, but little people who want to make homemade sidewalk chalk with you will soon enough be hard to find!

April - who is going to go put away some laundry that may or may not be in the bedroom floor! ;-)

January 28

2013-01-28T10:20:00.000-05:00

Wow! I have gotten way out of the habit of blogging in the past few months. When things get busy I guess this is the first thing that gets moved to the bottom of my to do list - oh who am I kidding, it's laundry, laundry is always at the bottom of my list. Just ask my family!

We had a great Holiday season. We were actually at home this year. It has been a long time since we were at our house on Christmas so that was a treat for us. The time flew by at warp speed like all breaks do and we hit the books again the first week of January.

We did a little curriculum change for math with my "not a math" guy. We switched over to Saxon, and it seems to be working ok for the moment. It is a little more parent involved/prep workish for me, than Teaching Textbooks was, but I am seeing understanding creep into the eyes of my best guy so it fine with me.

Around The World In 80 Days

We have also found a new book to listen to:
Around The World In 80 days by Jules Verne.
Phileaus Fogg and Passepartout have already pulled us into their story. This week we are going to trace their planned route out on our map. - yep, gonna throw some geography learning in with our listening this time. Surely, I get extra "good mom" points for that!

I guess since I have spent some time on the task that is second from the bottom of my to-do list I should go and do the thing right below it. -dumb laundry! Come on, clean socks are overrated people! That is why I think I'll just have another cup of coffee instead.
April

Harry Potter, the end of an era...

2012-11-12T19:13:00.000-05:00

After 6 months of listening, we reached the end of our journey through Harry Potter.

It's definitely the end of an era for us. It is a little sad to leave friends behind, but sometimes the story is over, finished and all that is left is goodbye...

I realize that only those who truly love books will understand the little sadness that comes with moving on from a favorite character's story. That is ok. Call me crazy. I will admit that I can become attached to characters, especially when 6 months of my time was spent in their world.

What a great 6 months it was though. I will always be grateful to the Harry Potter books for the conversations and questions they inspired in my kids.

When I decided to check out the first Harry Potter book on Cd from the library, I never imagined that it would begin a journey through learning about the Civil War and Slavery, WWII and the Holocaust and Civil Rights. Funny how a modern day story about a magical boy can spark conversations about prejudice and racism. Nothing beats being able to teach your children about the underground railroad, Anne Frank and Hitler, and a lady riding a bus in Alabama all because of questions they have from a story.

So here's to you Harry Potter, Hermione and Ron. Thanks for the adventure!

Now I'm off to find the next great story for us. :-)

April

Chugging Along

2012-10-03T07:46:00.000-04:00

Another week has come to a close on the homeschooling home front. Shew!! (yes I am doing the happy dance)

It was not a terribly eventful week. We are just chugging along, I guess.

The boy is getting a little more confident in math. Thanks to the "Mean Math Mom" having him do a little math everyday. Well, it probably has more to do with the fact that we finished the lessons on word problems and have moved on to fractions. Those darn word problems will be the end of both of us! If anyone has any helpful tips for mastering word problems feel free to share them.

Graphic novels have grabbed the attention of my sweet girl. We have made several library trips to pick out more because she is devouring them quickly.

We picked a late September harvest from the garden.

I am so thankful to have such a successful little garden this year.

We ended the week with a "Bounce Into Fall" party at a local bounce place. It was a great time for the moms to chat and catch up while the kids ran and jumped and climbed a rock wall. I just love relaxing times to catch up with friends! It was really a great way to end the week.

WWII and Mean Math Mom

2012-09-16T23:17:00.000-04:00

Another busy week has come to a close here in East Tennessee.

The last time I had a chance to post anything we were coming up on my sweet girl's 9th birthday sleepover. The girls had a great time, and I survived...Well, only after making the ultimate mom faux pas of sitting in the room with the girls so they would be quiet and finally go to sleep. Oops bad mommy! She has forgiven me though, I think...

Our weather is definitely getting a "Fall" feel, with cooler evening and morning tempuratures. Which makes for excellent morning and evening porch time. It actually makes for great outdoor school work days too. (which I will take any day over being cooped up inside)

We are trucking right along in all of our studies. We are actually bouncing around in History this year. Which has been kind of fun. #1 son seems to really like studying about wars so we are learning about WWII at the moment. We are learning about Anne Frank and the Holocaust and will watch the Anne Frank movie next week.

A few weeks ago I ordered Reading books and workbooks from Christian Light to use this year. I have been so pleased with them. The kids seem to enjoy the stories and I love the questions and vocabulary stuff in the workbooks. The boy even read a poem titled Rebellion In September that he really liked! It was fun having him come up and say "Mom, you have to hear this!"

I think I have turned into the Mean Math Mom. I am having the boy do a math lesson everyday for a while. (even weekends - I know, I know Mean Math Mom). Hopefully, the everyday practice will increase his confidence. He has improved so much in the last few months, but constantly questions himself - even the things that he knows how to do. We'll see in a couple weeks if it has helped.

April

First week of school 2012

2012-08-21T04:37:00.000-04:00

We survived! Survived what? You may ask. Or maybe you won't, but I'm gonna tell ya anyway.

We conquered the first week of school! There were only a few hiccups along the way. For instance, the mom did a different lesson than was on the lesson plan. (by total accident, I started reading on the wrong page and did not realize it until I finished. But hey, no harm no foul, right?)

This year I'm working to create more personal accountability with assignments and in general more independence. Each kid has a binder and each week they have their own assignment sheets that list all their assignments for the week.

The boy did fairly well with the new organizational system of a weekly assignment list and a binder. The girl did surprising well with it too. She is not a list maker kind of girl, but really seemed to enjoy placing cute tiny stickers on the assignment list to show she had completed a task.

For Science we talked about potential and kinetic energy. A Civil War review was the History discussion for the week. English/grammar was all about prepositions and prepositional phrases.

In Math, the girl and I, started our journey together through a 4th grade textbook and the boy started his new year of Teaching Textbooks. Along with Life Of Fred and some math fact review we had a good math week. At least I think we did! I guess we will see this week if what they did last week really stuck in their heads.

The girl started All About Spelling this week. I will write more about it as the weeks pass by and I have a better idea of how she's doing with it.

By the end of the week, my brain was mush. Which was probably a good thing, because Saturday the house was full of squealing girls to celebrate my girl's 9th birthday. She had a blast and honestly I did too. My brain already being mush probably helped with that! Little girls are so funny!

All in all, a good first week to have in the books, and now we are ready for a second great week.

April
Bienvenido a Mi vida loca

Squash tomatoes and book reports oh my...

2012-07-15T09:23:00.000-04:00

Need any squash? Anyone? Anyone?

The squash is growing like crazy here in East Tennessee! I've made squash casserole and steamed squash. I have even added it to spaghetti sauce and made a sandwich out of it in a pita bread with some hummus. Definitely a good year for squash!

Oh and tomatoes too. They have finally started coming in and man do I have plenty. I knew when I planted them that I was going overboard, but man I can't believe how many tomatoes are all over my counter and in the kitchen window.

I tried my hand at canning some of the tomatoes. It was actually quite easy, thanks to the little beginner's kit I bought for super cheap at Kroger. I am thinking I will be doing more canning before the summer is over. Well, I mean "we". I didn't let the kids be involved in the first session of canning because I thought I should at least have some idea of what I'm doing before I involved the kids in hot boiling water and hot glass jars and all that. But now that I have done a batch I think I can safely let them help next time.

It will make my son sooooo happy to be doing anything with tomatoes. He loves them soooo much! That, of course, being said in my best sarcastic voice because he despises tomatoes and anything that is made with tomatoes! But, alas, I will still have him help with the preserving of the tomatoes for everyone else's food enjoyment!

As far as schooling goes for the summer, we have my son set up to meet with a math tutor. (the math tutor is a really sweet 14 year boy who met with us at the library and jumped right in with worksheets and manipulatives and a huge amount of encouragement.).

We also have been doing summer reading and book reports. The kids have been reading a book a week and then giving us a oral report about what they read. It has been quite fun. We have completed two and we are working on the third right now. The last two weeks have been totally busy and so the latest report fell to back burner. It is all good though because, that is one of the flexible things about doing school work during the summer.

April
Bienvenido a Mi vida loca

How does your garden grow?

2012-05-29T16:13:00.000-04:00

We planted a garden a few weeks back.

It is a square foot garden. Not the complete Mel Bartholemual one, as I don't mix the soil any certain way. I just use Miracle grow potting soil. (shhh, don't tell the real square foot garden people, because it might be blasphemy or something!).

I really don't have much of a backyard. It really is a sloped hill except for one small section and so the only way for me to grow anything is square foot style. I don't mind this at all because square foot gardening is AWESOME! Much easier upkeep. I totally hate pulling weeds and stuff like that so it works great for me.

Little carrot seedlings popping up.

Since we are home schooling this year I decided that the garden needed to be a learning experience. After scouring the Internet for some journaling pages, the kids and I got down to the business of choosing our crop and planting it We headed straight for Home Depot! (uh yeah! Because that where all farmers go to begin their sowing. Right?lol) We walked around and the kids each helped pick out tomatoes, squash, carrots, (all kinds of carrots. If they turn out we will have an abundance of carrots).

I let the kids each pick out something special that they would like to try and grow. That is how I have ended up with a yellow watermelon in the garden! I'm not even sure what a yellow watermelon is, but it fascinated my boy so I got it! The girl picked zucchinni squash to plant! She is totally psyched about how many blooms there are.

After getting everything in the ground. The kiddos made some notes and measured some stuff and so now I guess they feel like gardeners. I love listening to them talk about how they have to go and see if anything new is growing. Every few days they go and inspect progress. And boy has there been progress:

So far so good!

Hopefully soon we will have some yummy veggies!

April
Bienvenido a Mi vida loca

Constitution Study and miscellaneous days...

2012-04-27T07:47:00.000-04:00

We finished our very first unit study. (a couple weeks ago, but really who's counting days? I sure can't seem to keep up with 'em.)

It really was a great study! Full of interesting information and it was fun too! (that is always a plus right?).

We did Constitution Celebration by Amanda Bennett. The kids really enjoyed being able to do "real" school work on their iPads. (the boy was really into that part). The lap book part of the study was good too. (the girl loved that part, as she is crafty and loves projects). My favorite part was the "Jeopardy" game! It was fun to play and see what the kids remembered. We will definitely be doing more unit studies.

We are rolling right on with our other subjects! We are just a few days from finishing our math curriculum for the year. Such a strange, but great, feeling to see the end of the book coming up! We have started reading Life of Fred as a supplement for math. It is cute so far, we are only a few chapters in. I will report back about how it helps my "reading" brained kid with math.

April
Bienvenido a Mi vida loca

Lions, Tigers, and the Constitution...Oh my

2012-03-31T08:55:00.004-04:00

We have made it back home after a few days out of town. Mark had to go work in Kentucky, so we went with him. (love this kind of flexibility that comes with homeschooling)

Even with air conditioner problems two different nights it was a great trip. The kids had a good time swimming in the pool and going to the zoo and eating at Bob Evans. Yep! Eating at Bob Evans! We ate there 3 times in 3 days. These kids are crazy I say! Just crazy!

The zoo in Louisville was a blast. Except for that part where the mom forgot to give her sneezy, itchy eyed kid allergy meds in enough time for them to work before we got there! Just FYI, if you have a kid with allergies and you are going to zoo in the Spring time give him allergy medicine much earlier than right before you get out of the car to walk in.

Anyways, once we got the constant sneezing under control we really enjoyed seeing the animals that were WILD and OUTRAGEOUS for us. Take a look:

This Gorilla was really showing off!

The lion in the back decided when we walked up that she would show off not her great "queen of the jungle" roar, but instead her totally awesome ability to roll over while bathing in the sun!

And then finally:

                                         The tiger must have stayed up too late the night before!
                                          This sleeping trick is the best thing he could offer us!

Now that you are completely overwhelmed with excitement from the awesome tricks of zoo friends...actually even though we didn't hear any great roars, or big time displays of toughness from Gorillas beating their chest, it was still a marvelous day. Truly, seeing a tiger so close (he was only about 3 feet from us) is breath taking. Not to mention, how cute the gorilla was holding his feet while he slept. All in all a great day at the zoo!

For school this week we did something totally new for us. We began working on a unit study. Since I read about them in the Fall I have wanted to try one and see if it is something that would work for us. I have to say that it has been great! We still have a couple of days to do, but we have learned so much. The kids have both said that they like it, which is great because I wasn't sure how they would like spending hours on the same subject everyday. The study is about the Constitution and has so far been pretty thorough as far as people and places.  The last part of the study looks like we will be discussing some of the content of the Constitution, the government branches, and about the Bill of Rights. I have really been pleased with it so far!

I'll post more on it next week when we have completed the study. At the moment my coffee cup is empty and must be refilled!

April

The week with testing...

2012-03-25T09:40:00.001-04:00

Our week of testing is finally over! Yay! Well, truthfully it was only 3 days!

I am relieved and the kids are relieved and I guess all is right in our homeschooling world again.

This being our 1st year to homeschool the testing has made me rethink the way we do some things. Don't get me wrong we are having a great year. But, there are a few things I will be changing up for next year. For instance, our math. Preparing for the tests I realized there were things in the practice tests we took that were not covered in their math curriculum. After doing some investigating, I realized that the material had not been covered YET. If we would have had another 3 or 4 weeks before testing one kid would have totally finished his math book and the other kid would have only been 5 or 6 lessons from the end of hers. So I am thinking that next year I want them to be finished with their math books for the year and all new material before testing. It will just take a little tweaking as far as scheduling goes, I hope! ;-) If anyone has any tips that I could implement for next year as far as testing I would love to hear them.

Since we were testing this week our other school work was minimal. We just worked on some math assignments and some MathWhizz. Other than that it was fun in the sun! Then fun in the rain and finally we ended our week with a trip to the bowling alley with friends. We had a park day during our unseasonably warm for East TN days. It is so nice to be able sit on the front porch and read again.

We are doing something totally new for school this week! We are going to do a unit study on the Constitution. Never done a unit study before, but I like the idea of it and have been wanting to try it out. The kids will be able to do a lot of it on their Ipads. I think that they really like that idea, and so do I since we are also heading out of town for a few days this week.

Have a great week!

April
Bienvenido a Mi vida loca

Where did I put the carefully planned schedule?...

2012-03-11T09:16:00.000-04:00

How in the world did a whole month pass since I last posted?

Well, let's see: a husband who was out of town for a couple of weeks in a row, a new extra curricular activity started, and trying to prepare the kids to take standardized tests. Those kind of things will disrupt a carefully planned schedule...well and if you do not make a carefully planned schedule then you are really in for it.(Oops, did I just admit that I didn't have a plan?! Hhmm I very well could have had a plan, but if I did I have no idea where I put it!)

The month of February was full of new adventures for us. The boy child decided he wanted to try Karate and is now enrolled in a Tae Kwan Do class. He is loving it! I am very glad about it because he really needed to find his "thing"! The school he takes classes at has a home school class during the day which works so great for us right now. I am not sure I would have been able to get him anywhere in the afternoon or evening because of having to get the girl child to and from dance 4 days a week.

Speaking of dance, I am so proud of the girl! This year she is doing so well in dance. She is becoming a dancer instead of a little girl who takes dance. It has been a fun transformation to watch. I am very excited about recital coming up in May because I think she is just going to really shine this year.

Our school work for the last couple of weeks has been mostly "learning how to take a standardized test" stuff. The girl has never taken one so I wanted to make sure that she knew some of the in and outs of the process. I found some practice material online and we have been working with that.

One fun thing we have been doing for a couple of weeks is learning the Animaniac President's song. It is a catchy tune that will get stuck in your head.

Trust me, if you google it and listen to it right now, you will walk around for the rest of the day singing:
"George Washington was the first you see he once chopped down a cherry tree. President #2 would be John Adams, and then #3, Tom Jefferson stayed up to write a declaration late at night..."

Oh great! I have other things I need to be doing right now and I guess I will do them singing about the presidents! Ha!

Off to work on making a plan for this week. (hopefully, I will be able to remember where I put it when I am done!) I want to add some really fun learning activities in with test prep. Is that even possible? I guess I will let know!

April
Bienvenido a Mi vida loca

Sleep interrupted...

2012-02-05T07:54:00.002-05:00

I'm Up!!

I don't know why I'm up so early on a Sunday morning. But I'm up. Well, wait I do know why I am up...the last few weeks have been so crazy and busy that my sleep schedule is off. Way Off!  Yes, it sometimes makes for a grouchy mommy, but I think I have done good so far. (don't know if my kids will agree with that or not!)

The reason my sleeping is so off can be traced to a night a few weeks back when I was snoozing away in a hotel in South Carolina. You see, my sister in law just had a new baby and it turned out that my husband happened to have to go and work that same week in the city where my SIL and my brother live! Yep, that's right! We took a road trip to meet the new guy!  He is so cute! He was all teeny tiny and smelled like a new baby...anyway, back to the hotel! Some crazy person decided to start a fire in the hotel fireplace without opening the flue. What happens, just in case your are wondering, if you do not open the flue on a hotel room fireplace is that your room fills with smoke causing the fire alarm to begin blaring in the middle of the night. Which in turn causes every alarm in the hotel to go off, which then causes everyone to have to go outside including the family on the third floor who has to carry two sleeping children down 3 flights of stairs. Freezing your buns off in the parking lot holding your half asleep 8 year old is not fun! All ended up well (just a lot of smoke) and we were able to go back to our room after about 15 minutes. We made it home the next day with all of our things smelling of smoke and headaches from the blaring alarm. I hope the couple in the room on the first floor learned a lesson: if your feeling romantic on a Wednesday night at a Residence Inn and decide you need a fire...OPEN THE CHIMNEY FLUE!

Now this may surprise you, but even in the midst of loving on a new baby and fire alarms, we were able to have a great school week that week. I love how my kids will get to their school work in a hotel so they can finish it and we can do fun stuff. We learned about the War of the Pacific and the a little about the Atacama Desert. We also got to talk about the different branches of the military and what role they each play in protecting out country and fighting in a war.

We got to head to Atlanta to a dance convention for #1 daughter. She had a great time with her friends. Mark and #1 son headed to Alabama to spend the weekend at my in laws house.  When the conference was over, the girl and I headed to Alabama ourselves. My mother in law had to have a double mastectomy and we wanted to be there.  Her surgery went great and she is on the mend.  She is an amazing women! -sidebar: ladies if you haven't done it get your mammogram!

We were able to finally finish the butterfly life cycle movie we were making. I can't share it yet because the camera I recorded it with on records in a format that is not supported by my movie editing software. I have to do a little more research and figure out how to convert it or something like that. The individual clips turned out very cute. I am hoping to figure out how to edit it this week.

Since I am up and everyone else is still sleeping I am going to check in with some of my favorite blogs like Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers and the hip homeschool moms. Heck, after that I might even go find a book to get lost in for a few hours.

April

The Week with the movie well, almost...

2012-01-14T09:31:00.001-05:00

What a great school week here in East Tennessee! The kids jumped right back in after the break and we were able to get almost everything done that was planned for each day. (which is awesome!)

We jumped right back in with some great History stories about the Irish Potato Famine, and then we moved on to South American.

Preposition was the word of the week in English. Not only did we diagram some sentences we are learning a jingle that lists prepositions to make it easier to spot them in sentences.

In Science we learned all about the Butterfly Life Cycle! Truly ALL about the butterfly. I went a little crazy at the library and checked out like 10 books to go a long with our science book. The girl finally got tired of reading about it and told me "Mom, I don't need to read anymore books, I know the butterfly life cycle." I guess we will see when they actually get to finished their project for the week.

And I say "get to finish" because we hit a weather snag with our science project for the week. The kids are making a movie showing the butterfly life cycle. Super fun, right? Yeah well, except when you get a light dusting of snow on the ground! Snow and a butterfly emerging from it's chrysalis just don't really go together. So instead of making a butterfly movie on Friday morning this is what we did:

Oh well...we will get back to work on the movie Monday!

April
Bienvenido a Mi vida loca

Thanks to weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com for the weekly link up!

Holiday Vacation Is Over

2012-01-08T17:15:00.001-05:00

Goodbye Holiday break! Happy 2012!!

So there it went...

Over already...

Man, I am going to miss sleeping in! But it is ok! I am ready to get started and get back to the regular routine craziness that is our life.

I have readied the lesson plans. Hopefully the kiddos will think that the stuff we have coming up is as cool as I think it is!

April

Art Class and Science Projects

2011-12-17T09:49:00.002-05:00

Is it really the week before Christmas? I can't believe it! I am ready for the Holidays though, not because I have completed my shopping list. Far from it! (yep that means I haven't even started!) I am just ready to visit and catch up with family!

The kids worked on science projects this week. We have been studying protists and so I gave the kids an assignment to make a protist for me. I let them each choose how they wanted to make it. The boy, who likes to draw, pulled out the construction paper and poster board and got to work drawing and cutting out a didinium eating its dinner. The girl pulled out some styrofoam balls and colored clay and began building a podophrya. I love how you can see their personalities and learning styles come out even in the smallest thing like a science project. Both projects are looking great so far.

We also did something new. The kids went to an art class on Wednesday. It is the first time it has worked out in our schedule for them to go. So off we went to the library to meet the art lady. The kids had fun and made some cute pictures. they enjoyed it and want to go back next week. We will see if we can fit it in before we head off out of town for the Holidays. (I hope we can so we can decided if it is something we want to add as a regular to the schedule starting in January.)

Speaking of Holidays...it is time for a Holiday break right? I think we are all ready for a break. I really want to have some "do nothing" days. Of course, I don't think that we will have any of those until we get home from Holiday travels. But that is okay, I can wait because just stepping back and doing some fun Holiday things like decorating cookies and a gingerbread house will make for a relaxing break too.

April

The week with the Recital

2011-12-10T08:33:00.001-05:00

It was a great week here in the Nicholson house! Lots of learning and some fun mixed in too!

We had: Two point paragraphs, and decimals too, don't forget the adverbs (how?, when?, where?), or adjectives (what kind? which one? how many?) definitely don't leave out the articles adjectives because they have the cutest jingle! We are the articles adjectives, teeny, tiny adjectives A, AN, THE, A, AN, THE! (sorry, it gets stuck in my head!)

We also got to play with a microscope this week! A neighbor has one and we were able to borrow it. We played with it for about 1.5 hours. (I know you don't really "play" with a microscope. Saying "play" just makes it sound fun and gets the kids attention.)

We started something new this week. We are incorporating copywork into our daily work. I thought that the kids would really grumble and moan about it (which is why we are just now starting instead of when I first read about it a few months back), but they are doing great with it. They have even looked through some books to pick something they want to copy!

We had something big happen this week. We had our first piano recital! I am so proud of my kids! They did great! They were so nervous, but they did it. After practicing their songs all day long on Tuesday we headed to the recital where they continued to practice on the big beautiful grand piano. Nothing like seeing your kids sitting at a 150 year old piano that has real ivory keys and actually playing a song!

I also set up the Jesus Tree, and we have begun opening presents to hang on it. I love that the kids enjoy doing it and they remind me that we need open something under it each night. I love having a tradition to do every year that is worth so much more than making lists and opening presents.

I am off to catch up on some of my other favorite blogs like Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers and the Hip Homeschool Moms. I so love being able to see what other families are doing. I always learn some great tips!

April
Bienvenido a Mi vida loca

Field Trip, Thanksgiving

2011-12-03T14:56:00.001-05:00

What is the world is wrong with my neck? Oh yeah, I know! It is the whiplash I have from how fast time is passing by. Crazy to think that Christmas is just few short weeks away.

Things are going well for us. We seemed to have found a groove and everything is running pretty smoothly.
If only it would stay that way!

It probably wont though because these people I live with keep wearing different clothes when I tell them to just wear the same thing they wore yesterday. Hey it's already dirty right? OK, OK! I was just trying to cut down on the piles of laundry!

After a couple of weeks of having a husband out of town for work, we decided to mix it up and go with him the week before Thanksgiving! Definitely one of the perks of homeschooling! It was a great trip! I was pleased with how well the kids did with getting school work done.

It was cold and rainy, so I had to rethink my field trip plans for the trip. We ended up going to the American Printing House for The Bind. They have a neat little museum and they will give you a tour of the facility. IT WAS AWESOME! Not only were able to see the machines they use to make braille books but we learned some of the history behind the education of the blind. It was a great experience. I think everyone should go and check it out!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! My parents came up from FL and we had a blast. I really enjoyed have a break from school! (Did I say that out loud!) I am looking forward to having a break for Christmas too!

What? Did I say Christmas?
Yep! I think I did!

Find something to hang on to and hold on tight! This is life baby! And...

IT IS GREAT! (make sure to keep some Thera-Gesic around for your neck though!)

April

Domestic Goddess

2011-11-14T08:06:00.001-05:00

I am a Domestic Goddess
By: April Nicholson

I am a Domestic Goddess!
My home is never in a mess
In perfect order, everything
Into your day, sunshine I bring
A smile forever on my face
Frustration there's not a trace.

No crumbs on my kitchen table,
My pantry shelves all have labels.
The kitchen floor is spic and span,
There's no dust on the ceiling fan.

I clean the baseboards every week,
The bathroom mirrors have no streaks.
I vacuum the floors everyday,
Dust on the blinds is wiped away.

Storm Door hand prints can not be found
No outside toys left on the ground.
My puppy always goes outside,
There are no carpet stains to hide.

No laundry piled up on the floor,
Clothes are neat in dresser drawers.
Clean bedrooms you will always find,
Kids do their chores and always mind.

A menu plan I have in hand
While in the grocery line I stand.
I make nutritious tasty meals
All while wearing pearls and heels.

Children never jump on the couch
I always smile and never grouch!
Big bad coughs and runny noses?
By the bed I will put roses.

I am a Domestic Goddess!
My house is never in a mess
In perfect order, everything.
Into your day sunshine I bring.
A smile forever on my face
Frustration there is not a trace...Well
that's because I just woke up!
It was just a dream! CRAP what bad luck!

Have a great day everyone. I hope my ramblings brought a little smile to your day.

April

Hi Ho Hi Ho it's Geocaching We Go...

2011-11-12T07:48:00.001-05:00

One of our caches!

We started our week with a little geocaching adventure. If you have not heard of geocaching just go to geocaching.com. It is like a treasure hunt game. Last Sunday morning we decided to give it a try. It was a blast!! We found three caches within a few miles of our house. We also found some hiking and mountain bike trails that we never even knew where there.

On Monday, I decided to take the kids and let them have a try at finding a cache. There is one conveniently located at the park right next to the library. (one of our favorite parks) The location was great and it was an easy find for kids. They enjoyed it and so off we went to find another. -fun family time and learning to read a map at the same time! Does it get better than fun plus learning?

This week we also invited some friends over to make Thanksgiving cards. There is a lady in our area who collects cards for Meal on Wheels and they hand them out with the Thanksgiving meal. Out came the construction paper and markers and stickers. Oh and let's not forget the warm from the oven cookies and juice boxes that made the card making even more fun! now don't go thinking that I was some great domestic host who made homemade cookies because we had company coming over. I am NOT that good a host. They were pull apart Toll House! hahaha

We also had a play date with new friends this week. It is nice to sit and chat with another homeschooling mom about what works and what doesn't for their family.

Next week will be a new homeschooling adventure for us. We are taking our school on the road for the first time ever. I am excited!

April
Bienvenido a Mi vida loca

The week with Halloween

2011-11-05T08:41:00.001-04:00

So glad for the weekend to be here.

I am going to veg out in front of the TV for a little bit today. Did everyone hear that! I am going to watch TV. DO NOT BOTHER ME!!! Bahahaha

We started our week with an off day. No, don't go thinking that we like Halloween that much. It just happened to work out that the Dad was off of work on Monday and we wanted to spend time with him before he went out of town for the week. Anyway, back to Halloween...

We hosted our neighborhood's Chili Cook Off this year. It was a driveway full of people and loads of fun! Especially the part where my girl and her best buddy put on a show/play for the whole neighborhood. They had been practicing- some scripts they typed up -for about 2 months. I was not sure they would go through with it, but they did! It takes guts to get up in front of anyone and speak, but to do it when you are 7 and 8 year old girls is just about the coolest thing I have seen in a long time! I am one proud mama!!!

Due to a doctors appointment we had to change our schedule around a little this week. It made for two super busy days instead of just one. But even with that we were able to get some good "work" time in. The kids spent a good bit of time this week on Math Whizz. Still seems to be a fun place for them to play and learn.

I also took it "back to old school that's so cool..." (oops sorry it might be a little early for singing) and brought out the School House Rock Multiplication DVD. We have been watching it during breakfast time!

We also read about protists in Science. I have a friend who has a microscope that we are going to borrow and use next week. That will be really neat.

The kiddos have also been playing a new game I downloaded onto the iPad. Well, two new games actually! One is Presidents vs Aliens and the other is Stack The States. The iPad has gone with us everywhere this week so they could play these games. It has been fun listening to them talking about the Presidents. During one game session they apparently missed the question and my girl said "oh no AHH it was the one with the weird hair!" I guess we just can't appreciate the fashion of other times. hahahahaha

It was raining during piano this week so I drove the kids around to the piano lady's house (instead of letting them walk through the little patch of woods behind our house). While I was sitting in the car waiting on them I was able to catch up on a favorite blog of mine www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com . This week she shared a post about how important our words are. A good post if you have a couple of minutes to read it.

Off to go and refresh my coffee and kick some kid shows off my TV! (I guess that will give me mean mom title for today! But too bad so sad!) :-)

April
Bienvenido a Mi vida loca

Dance Party Week

2011-10-29T11:58:00.000-04:00

We partied this week! No really, we partied! Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Halloween party after party every afternoon!

That is how it goes when you have a daughter who loves to dance and takes 6 classes! Yeah, do the math on that!

That makes 6 parties, and 4 afternoons of dressing up in a costume!

We did some serious partying!! It was fun!!

One more Halloween party to go this year. It's the neighborhood Chili Cook Off! We are hosting it in our driveway this year. It is always tons of fun.

Piano is going great! #1 son said that this week's lesson was the best one. Totally Awesome is what he said. He actually wrote his own little song this week. :-)

The piano teacher is having a Christmas Concert and the kids get to play a song. They are excited about it. They have been playing several different Christmas songs to find ones that they like. I love Christmas songs so to already have them playing in the house is great.

Our month of math is coming to an end, but it has been great. I like the progress that has been made. I think we are all well on our way to enjoying math more and more. The Math Whizz online tutor website has been great. I think we will keep up with it for a little while longer.

The leaves here in East TN are beautiful. We are going to ride into the mountains today to see them. Here is a picture of the pretty tree in my yard.

April
Bienvenido a Mi vida loca

Logic Puzzles and The Metric System

2011-10-22T09:29:00.000-04:00

Coffee...check

Fuzzy warm pjs...check

Fuzzy dog acting crazy...check

It must be Saturday morning! AWESOME!!!

Still working on Math Math Math and more Math in our house. The kids have not run away screaming yet...not about the math anyway! Bahahaha!

This week we worked on 2 step word problems. Yep word problems! Again!! YUCK YUCK YUCK!!! Oh no wait, I am not supposed to say that out loud! So how about this instead: (insert sarcasm here) word problems are awesome! they are cool real life stuff! word problems are fun! blah blah blah

Anyway...after we finished the 2 step problems we moved on to Logic Puzzles. Now those are actually a little fun. Only a little! What has made them fun has been listening to my girl talk through her puzzles. She is much more of a thinker than I have given her credit for. Plus, I learned she knows random stuff about dinosaurs. I told her "I didn't know that you liked dinosaurs!" She replied (very dramatically with a rolling of the eyes included) "I DO NOT LIKE DINOSAURS! A lady came to school one day in first grade and talked all about them and that is how I know about them." So I just told her it is cool that she remembers stuff from all the way back in 1st grade and I think, by telling her she was cool, I redeemed myself from the terrible error of thinking that she liked dinosaurs.

The metric system was also on the agenda for this week. It was actually quite fun. I found a fun rap song on the eduacationrap.com page. We have listened and danced and just acted plain silly with the song. And that was tons of laughs! We also labeled pieces of paper and laid them on the floor cake walk style and then worked to convert meters to kilometers, millimeters to centimeters and centimeters to meters. Hopefully, some of it will stick. Especially since I am walking around with "meters liters and grams, now you don't have to cram for your exam on the metric system" playing over and over and over again in my head.

I also discovered Rock 'N Learn Science videos this week. Love them! We watched and learned about Physical Science this week. Very neat resource to have for review.

All in all a great week!

April
Bienvenido a Mi vida loca