Busy, busy, busy...2 week catch up

You should know whenever my blog is neglected we are super-busy!!!!  Co-op began this week and I agreed/fell into teaching 3 classes this semester.  It is a little CrAzY!

I always say this...but I am so thankful for HOD because I don't have to plan!  When life is busy we can just open the guides and school!

We finished Unit 6 last week and are doing Unit 7 this week in Bigger and LHFHG.

K finished listening to Reddy Fox last week and is now enjoying Peter Cottontail during Storytime. D even begs to stay in the room to listen to the reading - he remembers it from 2 years ago.  :o)

She enjoyed making EDIBLE "dirt" for science one day...I didn't have Oreos or chocolate chips so she used fruit snacks, crushed graham crackers and rice cereal.  She ate ALL of it!

 They enjoyed a math game instead of workbooks one day. :) 

Valentine's Day breakfast...heart-shaped homemade cinnamon rolls (thanks to Pinterest for the idea).  The kids were delighted!

 Making "hope you feel better" cards at the table for their cousin who broke her collarbone last week.  It was their idea to make the cards!

 Mashing toothpaste & glue together...

 To paint the mortar between the bricks in the wall of Jericho...

 And then glued a red "cord" out the window to mark Rahab's house...she really enjoyed this project.  It smelled good, too.  ;)

D's science one day for Unit 6 (Bigger) - learning how our bodies fight off diseases/sickness.  He LOVED it!  We had read about inoculation of small pox in the colonies.

 He told me the next morning (out of the blue) that maybe they could do the same thing (inoculation) with peanuts.  He's a smart one!  I assured him there are studies he could do when he gets older to allow his body to consume a bit of a peanut and not react negatively.

We read about Benjamin West for Unit 6 and D was to paint with various fruits/colors.  I didn't have much in the house, so we used watercolors instead and "pretended" they were from things in nature (berries, weeds, etc).

 He did a great job...ended up with a dot of yellow on the left side and made it into a "bee" once the paint was dry.  ;)

 Building a wall to go with her Bible story about Jericho...she noticed the red cord in the picture in the Bible story book for Rahab!

 Piano lessons!!!!  He is amazing me!  Yes, the songs are super easy/basic right now, but he's flying through them.

She has come to stopping point in her Singapore 1A book.  I'm fearful of continuing because I see what D is doing mid-3A and know I don't want K getting there early.  We're going to do some hands-on activities, games and other things I find for her to work on facts, time and money.  I think we'll pick back up with Singapore in the fall...doing the activities in Beyond's guide book.

So we played Sum Swap the other day...she was adding well and she beat me!

K's tally marks for her "push" and "pull" items she found around the house.  She wrote "push" and "pull" on her own!

Knocking over idols...

President's Day mini-books...K (circle) and D (rectangle).  K found a quarter later in the day and said, "There's George!"

K's co-op craft to go with the book Gilbert Goldfish Wants a Pet (blue-colored rice, orange and green jewels to be the fish, clear plate to be the aquarium lid and blue plastic bowl to be the fish bowl).

Edible sunbutter playdough to make a wigwam (D -top pic below) and golden calf (K bottom pic) - K was catching up since the day she was supposed to make the golden calf and eat it (like the Israelites) we didn't have the supplies in the house.

K's barley plant from today, sorry I can't rotate it.  She drew the green like grass, plant (rice glued on) and then a cup of green barley juice (since she drinks it daily) and a very chocolaty granola bar. :)

America: The Last Best Hope (Volume III)

America: The Last Best Hope (Volume III)

From the Collapse of Communism to the Rise of Radical Islam

By William Bennett

I love reading about history, especially our nation’s history, so I was anxious to receive William Bennett’s book, America: The Last Best Hope to review.  Bennett’s writing is very detailed about the events that have shaped our nation in the years between 1988 and 2008.  I was happy to see two sections of event photos included in the book.  I would have loved to see even more photos throughout the entire book.   While the actual subject matter of this book interested me, I found the book to be boring to read because of the tiny print, wide pages and lack of chapter divisions (6 chapters in the 275-page book). 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

vacation & resuming school

We took a break from our school last week for our winter vacation with my side of the family. :)  We didn't ski or tube since the weather was so mild.  It was nice to be with family, play outside, hike and play games at night with everyone.  The older kids learned to play Mexican Train (dominoes) and C surprised me by how well she matched up dominoes in between games. :o)

We picked back up with Unit 5 this week in Bigger & LHFHG and finished it today.

D is really enjoying listening to Snow Treasure for his read aloud.  He begs for me to "keep reading" every day.  We've been reading it over lunch and so now K is caught up in the story, too.  I guess we could always do it in 10 days and then pick another adventure book for the last 10 days it's scheduled in the guide?!  :)

K is doing a great job of listening to Reddy Fox and we're almost done!  Her narrating skills are improving!

C did her "school" throughout the week, too...Little Einsteins puzzle (Thanks, Gma!)

D's drawings for his science notebook page were amazing!  He took his time and did a great job!

K learned about clouds - how they are made of moisture and drop moisture using a cotton ball and making it "rain" in the picture...

 Here's her "quail" she was so proud of making!  She is really listening & learning the Bible.  I'm so happy she can talk about it later in the day and in her prayers at night (thanking God for giving the Israelites food).

 D's vocabulary words...Pestilence - don't you just love the "germs" coming off the guys in his drawing?!

 "Barricade" - I love the arrows stuck in the barricade!

 "Volley" - I learned this specific definition right along with D this week, too!

 D's science experiment about "germs" - trying to get the "germs" (glitter) off with a paper towel (didn't take too many off)...

Trying with cold water - took a few off but most of the glitter remains on his hands...

Yeah for warm water & SOAP!  Germs are gone!  He better understands why I always say when we get home from being out, "Shoes off & wash your hands."  :o)

 Drawing what he learned with little C is watching...she wants a turnabout (container D and K each have for their supplies)!  She was asking me all week, "Mommy, can I have a circle-thing?!"  I'll have to find a new home for my scrapbooking pens and give her that turnabout since she's now old enough to realize she's the only one who doesn't have one. :o/

CHEESE!

Today's science - learning about the North Star and how it guided sailors...he was spinning to imitate the earth while watching the sky with the Big Dipper & North Star.  :)

colors, Moses, bivalves/univalves & Pocahontas

I've had a bit of trouble lately with C disrupting K's work, begging to do "skool," too.  An idea came to me on Monday.  I would call C to the table first to do her "school" and then maybe she would be content to go play while K did her school?!?!

It worked for Monday!  She colored YELLOW on a sun, daffodil, lemon & moon.  She was so proud of her work!

She begged to do "math" so I had her count 1-3 bears on number cards and then we moved them around the table to pretend they were boats.

K enjoyed finding baby "Moses" in his basket.

D's science (Bigger U4/D3) about Bivalves & Univalves.  I am very proud of the amount of writing he's doing lately (without complaining)!  He stumped his daddy when he asked him to tell the difference between mollusks that are bivalves & univalves after dinner.  :)

Below is his Indian blanket art project (Bigger U4/D4) where he had to fold the paper in half and then mirror the lines on each side of the fold.  He began with a VERY complicated pattern and then realized it was hard to copy so he made the ones near the outer edges of the paper easier. :)

K's movement for the "sun" when she was telling me what things plants need to grow!

She begged me to take a video...so I'd call out & show the card "sun" or "air" or "dirt" or "rain" and she'd have to do the motion.

K's math using her pink number line and a teddy bear counter to figure out subtraction problems.  :) She's doing fantastic in math (*shock!* to think I was trying to stall her from advancing in 1A!)

On Tuesday, D finished the book, Stone Fox, for his 10 day Adventure genre book for DITHOR (Draw into the Heart of Reading). I was in tears as he read the last chapter. D's eyes were misty, too.  :)

Warning ***book spoiler***  The boy in the story, Willy, competes in a dogsled race to earn $500 to pay the taxes on his Grandfather's farm (he's ill) so they don't lose it.   His dog, Searchlight, is the only dog pulling Willy's sled.  Searchlight's heart gives out just before the finish line and the dog dies instantly. ;(  The Indian man, Stone Fox, racing behind Willy with 5 dogs pulling his sled stops (he was favored to win the race).  Stone Fox draws a line in the snow and says he'll shoot any other sled team that crosses it as other racers catch up to where Willy stopped.  Stone Fox allows Willy to carry his dog across the finish line to win. 

C's "school" today - the color GREEN!  The big kids told her she used "yellow" again but I assured them it's a bright, light green since we pulled out all the shades of green when C began her paper today. She just chose to color with the very lightest one.  :)

K opted to draw/color pics of all the plagues we talked about today (LHFHG U4/D5).  She did a great job - we read a day ahead to learn about the 10th plague to complete this project today.

D drawing a "wigwam" for the "Pocahontas" entry on his timeline.  I was intrigued by what we learned about Pocahontas.  I'm so glad they haven't watched Disney's version (personal preference on my part) because it would have ruined the REAL story of Pocahontas for them.

He also had to complete an acrostic of POCAHONTAS' name for his history notebook.  I re-read the portions of the history book we've read the past few days.  I'd stop every few sentences and ask D what he could write about Pocahontas.  t took a little time to come up with phrases for the O's.  D did a good job and didn't give up!

D completed his "ADVENTURE" genre introduction today (a day early).  He had to roll the die and I would make a "wrong buzzer" sound or a "ding" depending on the number rolled.  A "ding" meant he had the correct number for the character.  Then he'd go on to the setting and finally the problem.

He wrote "Peter" and "Norway" and "Rescue Gold" at the bottom of his paper and discovered our book is SNOW TREASURE!  I'm excited about the book because it's based on a true story!  :o)

Egypt, East to West & Snow!

We began Unit 4 on Thursday in LHFHG & Bigger...

K enjoyed painting her Egyptian collar (a.k.a. paper plate) with bright colors - she even mixed red/blue to make her own purple paint!

The finished collar being modeled a few hours later once all of the paint was dry! :)  She even wore it again today when we were reading about Joseph.

D added to his timeline for his Biography (George Rogers Clark)...this was supposed to be a dog caught under a tree limb...he told me it looked like a worm.  Sadly, he chose to make it in marker not pencil.  Lesson learned?  Maybe?!

He also added these pictures to the timeline - on the left, George & Grandfather talking though it looks like the Grandfather is in a bathtub (D's words - not mine!).  HA!  On the right - George riding a horse and finding his friend Tom.  We discussed how to draw correct horse legs...not four legs really spread out over a bunch of horse, but two legs close together.  You can see some wide legs have been erased.  :)

The bartering/trading activity that I very much-anticipated D loving, he did not.   I had made a special trip to the bulk candy section of a store I rarely shop, so I could get candy he liked in small amounts without spending a fortune.  He didn't want to trade anything, didn't want to eat any of the candy and didn't want to save it.  He gets in these "I don't want it" moods sometimes for attention or just to be different, I don't know, but it ruins the activity for himself. :(  I had invited K to join us at the beginning of the activity and she LOVED it - she and I enjoyed trading mints/chocolate chips for flavored Tootsie rolls and gumballs so all was not lost. :)

We then read the Ox Cart Man and D really enjoyed it - go figure!  He was even telling daddy last night when sheep are sheared (April - as the book said).

This morning we played in the SNOW!

K's chosen stuffed friends for her family activity to go with the story of Joseph forgiving his brothers...she picked the Panda for Daddy, Hello Kitty for D (good thing he wasn't in the room at the time), her dolls for me and herself, the lamb in a tutu for C.  :)

D's science notebook page had a lot of writing, but he did a great job.  I helped him label the invertebrates but he did the drawings, coloring & other words on the page.  ;)

With his geography today he had to travel north & south and then east & west around the globe.  I explained how east/west never meet...you can go east forever and keep going!  I was reminded of the verse/song that says our sins are as far as the east is from the west!  D's eyes were big...he got it as his finger circled the globe going east and east and east or west and west and west and it never meets!  Our sins are gone! 

Ps. 103:12 "As far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our transgressions from us."

He's eating the crackers - being silly for the camera!

 The "world" out of paper & graham crackers with the oceans labeled.

smelling & drawing

Wow!  Wednesday already!  Here's what we've been up to the last 3 days...

Monday - K had fun "smelling" & "guessing" various spices/baking items that went along with the story of Jacob/Esau (LHFHG U3/D4) since Esau smelled amazing soup and swapped his birthright for it.

She loved it!

(excuse her outfit...it was her own dress-up outfit including a white tank top, lea she wore like backpack straps & pink skirt - she is creative!)

Smelling garlic...

D watching what happens to cornmeal when he added water to the tilted pan (Bigger U3/D4).  This was to show what happens to the river - source, riverbed, riverbank, mouth and went along with what we read for history that day & Henry Hudson.

When we did this activity he remember the other year about the river/toothpick labels - yeah, it sticks in his mind!  :)

We made Tuesday our holiday/school day off this week.  :o)

Wednesday - K punched holes in black paper to show her name!  Sorry for the blur - had to take my flash off to show the light coming through and it always makes everything blurry since I'm not a great photographer.

D's timeline today (Bigger U3/D5)...John Smith & Henry Hudson added.  I love his whale!

His history notebook project today was drawing a map.  He titled it, "Not the way to India" as the explorers originally thought the James River would take them.  :)

 He drew his map from this picture in the book...