Just For Laughs

You never know what you’ll get from my blog.

Today, just a little picture from The Homeschool Corner that made me laugh.

Click on the picture to enlarge it for reading.

Enjoy your day!

God’s Amazing Design

My boys have been very busy with their schoolwork. Connor completed his science book for this year about a month ago, and Blake just finished up his! Does this mean they get science off until next year? No way! They will both continue to read science based books from our reading list and start their next science books early.

One of Blake’s final experiments dealt with pinecones and how wonderfully God designed nature.

He first took a pinecone and soaked it in cold water. Gradually the pinecone closed itself  completely against the cold.

Next, he placed the pinecone in a pan and left in the oven at 250 degrees for a couple of hours.

Here’s what happened.

It warmed up and opened up. Amazing! I did not know this would happen.

That was a day we both learned something new!

Don’t forget, there’s still time to link up to the That’s The Ticket Blog Hop Party and enter the giveaways!

She’s Gonna Blow!

Connor received a volcano kit last November for his birthday and I’ve been terrible about getting it out for him to experiment with. We had a couple of beautiful days here, so his big brother Blake, having experience with the volcano thing, volunteered to help him set it up and erupt it.

First, they had to mix up Plaster of Paris and pour it into the volcano mold. Without properly thinking, I gave them permission to use a mixing bowl. They chose my pancake bowl!

Not to fear, we got it clean.

They only managed to plaster some of the gravel.

After the mold was dry, they mixed up the lava.

Only it kind of fizzled out.

So, I did what any good homeschooling mama would do. I said, “I have something better!”

Baking soda and vinegar. We all know what those two do when they get together!

The boys added red food coloring to make it more “authentic” looking. I think it looks like it’s foaming blood; but whatever makes them happy.

And thar’ she blows.

They repeated it until they ran out of baking soda in the box I gave them.

This definitely made for two good afternoons of fun!

Thanks, Grandma!

Also, please check out this fun slideshow put together by Karen from A Collective Journal featuring Industrial Vintage Etsy items. My little rusty pair of wheels are included in it! How cool is that?

Customize an ecard

Homeschooling Myths

I came across this video and because it made me laugh, I thought I’d share it. Those who are homeschoolers will probably (I hope) appreciate it. If you’re not a homeschooler, please don’t be offended. These are actual questions and statements I’ve dealt with. I’m aware every homeschool situation is unique and special. There are also homeschoolers who are not Christian and am in no way making fun of anyone~it just brought a chuckle to me this morning.

Enjoy.

Seven Lies About Homeschoolers

And no, we don’t do school in our pajamas!

Science and Nature-Ewww!

My first homeschooling post of the new year is about owl pellets.

First, let me clear something up. Owl pellets are not owl poop. Some people have the misconception that they are. They most definitely are not. Haven’t you seen Guardians of Ga’Hoole?

Pellets are actually the regurgitated parts of the small animals the owls feast upon, that they cannot digest: bones, teeth, fur, etc. They hack them back up in a wonderful little wad that looks like this.

Gross, I know. But when you’re a homeschooling mom and have boys who are studying God’s living creatures, there are some things you just have to put up with.

This was actually Connor’s project, as Blake had already gone through this study a couple of years ago. Connor was kind enough to share his pellets with his brother so he could relive the experience.

Note the fancy gloves. This was a mom’s sanitation precaution.

Some poor little critter’s skull. We think it was a vole.

And all the other little pieces that were discovered.

Disclaimer: I did not go scrounging around for owl pellets in the backyard. I bought these from an online science supply place, and the box said they had been sterilized.

Whatever that means.

Linking to:

Debbiedoos Newbie Party

Christmas in the Trenches

During the Christmas season I try to read as many Christmas books to the kids as I can squeeze in. It’s not possible to read every night, due to other holiday going-ons, but the kids take turns picking out which story they want to hear when we are snuggled in at home.

Tonight Blake chose Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon. This is a book I picked up at ,where else but,  a thrift store a couple of years ago and  it remains one of our favorites. The author first wrote a song, then a book was developed from that. The touching storyline is loosely based on a Christmas truce that occurred during WWI.

The book also contains a brief author’s note on how he came to compose the song and a historical note on the actual occurrence of the truce. The last pages of the book are the lyrics to the song, itself.

So, to wrap up our story time, we found a video of the author singing the song and watched that. If you have the time, it’s worth viewing, especially at this time of year.

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Nature Study News

I took the opportunity on Wednesday to snap some pics of the boys at their nature study class. They weren’t exactly thrilled, but I managed to sneak a few in.

    

Connor decided to act just a little goofy for the camera.

Their subject this week was a Burr Oak Acorn. Their teacher, who is a friend of mine, also, has a backyard full of them, so she brought a few in for an up close and personal study.

We have found these on our walks around the neighborhood, but never knew what they were. They kind of look like regular acorns on steroids.

Here are their sketches.

Connor                                         Blake

Next week is the final week of class. The co-op is considering either a leather working class or a writing class using Story Starters by Karen Andreola. Either one would suit us just fine!

Apologia Science

The boys are enjoying their Apologia science books. Blake has been working through the Apologia Botany book by setting his own pace. This works well with him as he tends to want to read ahead. Last week he learned about classifying plants by sorting shoes from our closets. This was a great hands on project since he could visually see how the shoes ended up grouped when he was finished. 

                                                  

Connor is doing well on his Apologia Land Animals book. He’s working more on his own this year. It still takes some prompting to keep him on track, but once he gets going he’s very diligent in his work. Last week his notebooking instructions were to create a newsletter about dogs. Instead of handwriting it, he asked if he could type it. So we opened up a template in Microsoft Publisher and he went to town! I was really impressed, especially since I’ve never typed anything in Publisher! Here’s the final product. Punctuation and spelling still needs to be worked on.

                                                   

Laina is finishing up her first module in Apologia Biology. She’ll take her test in a couple of days, so hopefully she’ll do well. I’ve decided only to grade on the tests this year and not on the study guide questions. This will simplify things quite a bit on my end, and hopefully enable her to have better information for studying. I also am not requiring the labs, unless it is one that she absolutely wants to do.

That’s all for now~

Back to School

It seems I’ve stretched summer out as long as I could, and so today it was time to embark on a new school year adventure. I can’t honestly say I’ll be more faithful in blogging this year than last, but I’ll do my best to keep updating.

How is it going so far? A bit stressful. Right now is the kids quiet reading time, so I had a minute before laundry and errands to catch up. Settling in after having an unstructured summer will take a little while. But, I’ll tweak it as we go, and all should fall into place.

Laina is in 9th grade this year! A freshman! Does having/teaching a high schooler scare me? Not really. It’s more the life lessons she needs to learn that I’m worried about. I’m willing to teach, but she also has to be willing to learn. She is enjoying the SPCA still and has started taking piano lessons from a neighbor across the street. She absolutely loves that and acquired a keyboard from some friends to practice on. This year she is working on completing her Math-U-See Algebra, and then will move on to the Stewardship program. On Wednesdays, we have the opportunity to join a homeschool co-op, where she will be working on a financial class. She’s also doing Apologia Biology, Practical Proverbs Bible Study, Simply Charlotte Mason Spelling Wisdom, Epikardia Essays for High School, Spanish and a whole slew of reading. Whew!

I’m still taking the Charlotte Mason  approach, but am throwing in a bit of the Robinson Method in providing the kids with a booklist for history, geography, literature, additional science, economics, and character building and sending them on their way!

As a family we’ll be doing scripture memorization, bible study, poetry, hymn study, map study and current events, along with a read aloud.

Blake is officially a junior high kid now. He’s in 6th grade. He loves military and hunting stuff. Guy stuff. He’s already said he will probably go into the military after  high school. He chose this year to start Motherboard Books, Computer Science, Plain & Simple. He’s also working on Math-U-See Zeta, Apologia Botany, Simply Charlotte Mason Spelling Wisdom, a personal Bible study, and writing which I will assign. His choices off the reading lists to begin with today were: Narnia-which he’d already been reading, an autobiography by a former prisoner from Alcatraz who is now a Christian, The Hole in Our Gospel-by the CEO of World Vision, and Squirrels and Other Fur Bearers. Quite an eclectic choice.

Connor is now 4th grade and that just doesn’t seem possible. He asked to do an art class this year, so he’ll be starting How Great Thou Art. He’s also working on Math-U-See Delta, Apologia Land Animals, Cursive Copywork, Queen’s Language Lessons,  and a personal Bible Study. Both the boys will be attending a nature study class through the co-op for the next six weeks.

As I type it out, it sounds like a lot, but a lot of it is reading and if it needs to be pared down, I’m not afraid to do it. I really want my kids to understand that this is about teaching yourself to learn, not just cramming a bunch of facts into their heads. I want to build their character and life skills, and have them love God. It can be as simple as that. I wrote more about Homeschooling Their Hearts in this post.

I apologize for not including links to products/websites/pictures today-I’m out of time! I’ll update my sidebar with the kids school pics that I took this morning real soon!

Thanks for visiting with me!

Time for Planning

I started reorganizing my school/office supply cupboard today in preparation for our new school year. I should have taken before and after pictures, but I wasn’t thinking that clearly. I actually have a whole row of cupboards in the schoolroom that I want to go through, but the main one I tackled today was the one that I had been chucking all our new curriculum in! I had also been using it to hold the supplies & photos for a scrapbooking project I really want to work on. It also was housing some mailing and packaging supplies for some items I’m planning to list on EBay.  Each time I opened one door to shove something in, things would fall out the other door!

Now, I have a current list of all my supplies and they are neatly organized, including the mailing materials. The kid’s new schoolbooks are in three separate piles on my table, just waiting for me to go through for planning, and the scrapbooking is settled in another area where I have some other crafty projects waiting on me.

I feel so much better! Tomorrow I’ll be moving down the line of cupboards and drawers, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll take a look at one stack of the curriculum!

A Beautiful Day

The weatherman was calling for rain today. It didn’t rain. It ended up being a springy-feeling 77 degrees. Not a single cloud in the sky.

                                          

We took advantage of the sunshine and spent some time on the playground at the local elementary school.

The cutie on the spinner with Laina is a friend of ours.

Blake played some soccer and frisbee with his dad.

Connor got some pointers on the basketball court from one of our friends. He actually shot his first basket today!

                                       

How was your day of rest?