Homeschool mothers journal-5

In my life this week…
I took my Dad with all 4 kids to get set up for radiation for his cancer. Now he will have to go everyday for the next 2 months. I spent 5 hours one night going through all our homeschool stuff. It has occurred to me that I had so much stuff I couldn't find anything so I wasn't using very much of what I had. I did weed out quite a bit and am trying to weed out more. I tend to horde educational stuff because money is tight and I hang on to stuff I don't necessarily use. We out an offer on a house but the seller never responded so we are off to do more house hunting!

In our homeschool this week…
My little ones and I studied the letter B (we blogged about it). My older Son is finishing up The Dark Is Rising and finished most of his state studies. Next week we plan on visiting some historical sites he read about., it was just to hot this week.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
Don't horde educational supplies!!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
We went to the zoo this week to look at the butterfly greenhouse before their release. Spent more time at the library reading of our fines. Went to a knitting class with oldest son.

My favorite thing this week was…
The free toy each kid got from the zoo this week. Fisher Price was doing a big promotion and was handing them out to each child. They are similar to Legos but they snap together so they do not come apart easily like legos do. Even my 2 year old can snap and unsnap them. These are defiantly going to be on our Holiday wish list.

Fisher-Price TRIO Vehicle


I’m cooking…
Coconut shrimp right now, and steak on the grill tonight with roasted veggies

B- all about the letter b

All about the letter B!
The letter -B
The color - Blue
The shape - Circle
The occupation- Baker

letter B books we are reading







Here is what is our out letter B bag


A blue paint sample card from home depot!
1 small block
A beetle
Butterflies
A bear who is baking
A letter B card with a baker on it
A bumble bee

Letter B
We cut our butterfly pictures out of a magazine I had then glued them onto out letter B's and made them into butterflies.

We made bead necklaces to hang from the rear view mirror

We got out our dried bean box and played


We braided hair and made barrettes

B is for Beetle

We found this beetle 2 months ago dead under my daughter dresser and of course we saved it! You wouldn't be a homeschooler if things like this didn't sit around on your shelves and such. My daughter is very afraid of bugs and putting this dead bug on her face and playing with it was a huge step for her. It took me 20 min to convince her that it was dead and cannot hurt her, but finally she held the bug and put it on her face. Any idea on what kind of beetle this is?

Went to the zoo to look at the butterflies and bears.

We went for a many walks and looked for items that started with the letter B and for items that were the color blue.

We also painted swirly pictures with birds feathers dipped in paint and pretended it was a bird flying through the sky!

Homeschool mothers Journal.-4

In our homeschool this week…
I started a letter of the week curriculum that I created myself for my younger 3. I will be blogging about it over weekend if you are interested. My 10 yr old started reading, The Dark is Rising by Susan cooper (Newberry Honor Book). He says it's very confusing so far but getting very good. He also started his state history studies.


Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
Well most of the U.S was EXTREMELY HOT and I do not do heat well thats why I love living in the North and would like to move farther north. My dream place in the U.S to live just outside Portland Maine, maybe someday, never if my husband has any say though. We did manage to go to the library though and read off 6 dollars of our fines (you don't want to know how much we owe). We also picked up my oldests pottery projects that he worked on a few weeks back at the potters Guild.I had a short visit with my homeschooling friend Sara who is moving to Thailand with her 3 boys in a August. What an amazing experience she and her boys will have!

My favorite thing this week was…
Meeting a neighbor that lives 5 blocks away whom I always see walking with a triple stroller and 2 more kids. I finally caught up with her and asked if they were hers or she runs a day care. Turns our 2 are her grand kids 2 are her nephews and the other kids are other kids she watches. She totally did not look like she was a grandmother. She had 4 kids of her own 3 boys and 1 girl just like me!


Questions/thoughts I have…
Am I the only one who cannot stop thinking about all the homeschool stuff that is running around my head every night when I am trying to sleep? It's like my CPU of a brain needs to go over everything that we did, planning to do and didn't do. Then sorting and filing all of it all away in appropriate files so I can access them later. I guess that's why it takes me so long to fall asleep, my brain just refuses to shut down and reboot in the morning!!

Things I’m working on…
Still organizing school stuff. Now we are house hunting as well, we would like to be out of our house by fall. Hoping to get a house with lots of land!

I’m reading…
Paleo Solutions
and
Elphames Choice

I’m cooking…
NOTHING! It has been so hot and without air and 95-115 degree heat index we have been eating mostly salads and eating out.


A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity. -Christopher Morley -

A- amazing fun with letter A!

This week my 3 youngest ones are learning about...
The letter -A
The color -red
The shape -triangle
The occupation of Artist

The 3 letter A books we read this week




I loved Artichoke Boy, great rhyming texts and very silly. It also talks about body parts that we would point to on our body as we were reading.

We started our morning circle time when I had everyone sit on their story rugs (remnant squares from hardware store. I find my kids will sit in one spot longer if they have a designated space that is theirs. So I brought out a construction paper letter A that I had already cut then asked my oldest to pick the book of the shelf that had an alligator on it. We then read all 3 books. We continues reading them through the week.

This is what is in our letter A bag
One side I taped uppercase letter and the other side I taped lower case. I chose the color of the week we are focusing on which was Red.

A pink airplane
An alligator
A puzzle letter A
An ant
A toy basket of apples
An astronaut toy
A red wooden air plane
a red paint sample card from Home Depot!



Here is our Alligator letter A



Here are the toilet paper tube airplanes.
We planned on driving out to the airport and having a picnic in a nearby field to watch the planes come and go but mother nature had other plans. There was noway I was going to sit near the tarmac in the blazing sun with a heat index of 96-115!


We also cooked and tasted an artichoke prepared 3 different ways.


A is for ants on Monday we put out sugar cubes to watch the ants come and get it but after 3 hours then never came. A huge storm blew through our area causing flooding everywhere. The ants and their super senses must have known this because they never came out. Then we had a science lesson on why the ants acted this way, and why bugs do not fly in the rain.We tried our Sugar cubes later in the week with much success. first we put it near the ants then we kept moving if farther and farther away and putting obstacles in the ants way to see which route they would choose (the short one, the longer one, the easier one, the harder path etc.) it was very interesting on which way the ants chose to go.

Next week we will be doing the letter B for busy, lol. We have somewhere to be everyday next week, I hate busy weeks like that!

Goodwill finds for the week

My goodwill finds for the week.....

My goal in this trip was to pick up an old scrabble game so I could use the letters for spelling and reading for the little ones. I did manage to score 2 scrabble jr games. One was from the 80's and the other was a newer one I grabbed both. I figure we could use the variety of scrabble game boards ( we already have the Disney scrabble jr.) and use the extra letters. The new game was $1.00 the older game was$2.00

I picked up the Cat in the Hat game for $2.00
2 24 piece puzzles $1.00 each
1 around the city floor puzzle which has pieces that show the letter and an occupation that go on top of the puzzle. Each letter has an occupation on it A is artist , B is baker etc,,, so I was very excited about this because we can add these items to our letter bags. $1.00



Magnetic letter shape puzzles the big block is a magnet and the letter that fit inside are magnets too! Inside each there is a picture of something that starts with the letter like M mice. It doesnt have all the letters but that works out okay because it will be another item to go in our letter bags? $2.00



Our unusual find was a cd storage container which the kids played with for at least 20 min at the store and another hour at home. It always the non toy items my kids like. Now I am in search of old CD's and DVD's that I plan to attach numbers and letters on to put in the cd organizer.$4.00

Some assorted toys that I got to put in our letter bags that we will be starting in a week.$2.00

A few other items I picked up our total was $20.02




Goal list
1. Organize and clean unfinished side of basement
2.learn how to become a day trader
3, Exercise more I worked out 5 out of 7 days this week
4. Do more research on colloidal silver and learn how to make my own colloidal silver solution
5. Do more work on either of my books I am writing
6. Work on science curriculum for next year
7. Work on my list of events I am organizing for my homeschool group next year
8. Organize school supplies still working on it but halfway through
9. Organize my kids dressers one kid down 3 more to go
10.Research student loan consolidation help


I will not be adding to the list since I was unable to cross anything off but by next week I should have 1 more to cross off.

Homeschool mothers journal-3

In our homeschool this week…
10 yr old is on his 1 week off rotation of our 6 weeks on 1 week off school. My little kids and I are studying fireflies and more bugs.I am also trying to finish up my daughters state fair projects.


Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
We had a busy week.... we went to the art museum,and science museum.My son has his friend stay the night only to want to go home in the middle of the night, sigh! So I took him home. My son was super bummed and it was his 4th time staying over so not sure what his deal was.We also went to our American girl club meeting on Kaya, I made dream catchers with the girls and sat under a willow tree enjoying the beautiful day.We read did lots of reading at the library and knocked off $8.00 of our $87.00 in fines! Sat on a grassy area near the side of a road and watched construction vehicles tear up a road, now think I should start Mike Mulligan and his Steam shovel soon from the Five In A Row series.We went to the local mall for story time and learned about Vincent Van Gogh. They provided a snack and I was super excited that they had Annnies Organic Bunny crackers and freeze dried organic peaches and pears. After story time they decorated flower pots and took home a flower. It was a lot of fun!

My favorite thing this week was…
Walking around the block with my younger 3. It was the first time we actually made it all the way around, and its an average block size too!

What irritates me most this week..
When parents do not teach their children how to properly speak on the phone

Questions/thoughts I have…
Why did my son fail his 5th grade math test when he is doing 7th grade work?

Things I’m working on…
Organizing stuff for our letter of the week curriculum I am starting on 1 week. Went to the thrift store to look for small items to add to our letter sound bags we will be starting. Also got some great ideas on things to make and do from the Art and Science museum this week.

Idea 1- Make a laminated chart for a doctor file of a kids body and basic organs. Then make laminated copies of these organs to attach to a doll as well.

Idea 2- make sandpaper blocks as music instruments, they make a neat swish swish sound when rubbed together.

I’m reading…
Paleo Solutions

I’m cooking…
lots of meats and veggies no more grains.



A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
"Great spirits have always been violently oppressed by mediocre minds." - Albert Einstein

Fly life Cycle part 3- Pupa, baby flies!!

I am so excited to say that we have successfully completed our fly like cycle


step 1- get flies to lay eggs,...egg stage
step 2- eggs hatch to maggots, ...larva stage
step 3- maggots eat their fill then enter the pupa stage.
step 4- baby flies are born!

We didn't get to see our baby flies born but we did see some empty pupa shells and dead baby flies inside our container. I didn't want them to get out. I read that flies will keep visiting the places they hatched from to lay their eggs some where close by and I did NOT want thousands of flies all summer near my house. I just took the trash out and noticed I unintentionally grew maggots in my garbage can they are crawling all over , yuck! What really sucks about that is if those maggots make it to the pupa stage and hatch they will come back their to lay their eggs! While doing our fly research I discovered that flies will go back to the area that they hatch from to lay their own eggs when they reach adulthood. So once you have maggots it can be hards to keep the flies away from the place you first saw them at.


I am so happy to be done with this yucky project and also so happy that we were lucky enough to see all stages of the life cycle. It was defiantly an educational experience for all!

Next up will be lightning bugs :) .... Speaking of lighting bugs as I was typing this my 3 yr old was yelling that there was a bug on the tub. So it was a well planning hello from our buggy friend. We took turns hold it and then we let it go outside.

1. Organize and clean unfinished side of basement
2. Write a 50 state geography curriculum for next year
3, Exercise more
4. Do more research on colloidal silver and learn how to make my own colloidal silver solution
5. Do more work on either of my books I am writing
6. Work on science curriculum for next year
7. Work on my list of events I am organizing for my homeschool group next year
8. Organize school supplies
9. Organize my kids dressers
10.Research student loan consolidation help

I have finished my first goal off my list 2. Write a 50 state geography curriculum for next year
Now I need to replace that goal with a new one here is the new list:
1. Organize and clean unfinished side of basement
2.learn how to become a day trader
3, Exercise more
4. Do more research on colloidal silver and learn how to make my own colloidal silver solution
5. Do more work on either of my books I am writing
6. Work on science curriculum for next year
7. Work on my list of events I am organizing for my homeschool group next year
8. Organize school supplies
9. Organize my kids dressers
10.Research student loan consolidation help

I will be working on #8. Organize school supplies I am also hoping to knock a few others off my list as well.

We are linked up at Weird unsocialized homeschoolers weekly wrap up

Homeschool Mothers journal-2

In my life this week…
I have been frustrated with the clutter in our very small house. If I didn't homeschool it wouldn't be a problem. All the clutter that is driving me nuts. I have been house training the new puppy( 6 week old Neapolitan mastiff) and dealing with the loss of putting out 4 month old English mastiff down.

In our homeschool this week…
This wasn't the best of weeks
10 yr old worked on American history and went to a 2 day seminar with his dad to learn day trading. I am impressed with what he learned and his watch list on Ameritrade is doing very well.
5 yr old finished up projects on the fly life cycle and graduated from a 7 day class that our local police station does called safety city.
As a family we spent lots of time reading off our fines at the library, watching the BBC series Life and taking nature walks.

I am inspired by…
The monarch butterflies that have been visiting our milkweed. I am just amazed at there long journey down to Mexico each year.


Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
We said good bye to my oldest friend visiting from FL


My favorite thing this week was…
Taking walk around the block and watching my 4 kiddos walk down the street in a single file line


I’m reading…
Divine by Blood by PC Cast


I’m cooking…
Lots of veggies and meat since we have started trying to eat gluten and mostly dairy free


I’m grateful for...
The opportunity for my husband and don to attend the Ameritrade seminar and learn about the stock market.

A photo to share...

the new puppy!

50 state curriculum

I was originally planning to print pages from this site
http://homeschooling.about.com/od/freeprintables/qt/geogprintables.htm

As I was 1/2 way through, and using up a ton of ink and paper I came across this book ...


for only $3.95! This would save me a lot of ink and paper. These will be great for the 5 yr old. and I can still print some of the other worksheets for my older son. I love all the word searches. Those are great training activities for his dyslexia

I am planning on going through 1-2 states a week until we work through them all doing them in chronological order of statehoods. We will also be making a timeline.

Here are the books we will be reading on each state

This one is my favorite


This one would bore my 5 yr old but great for my 10 yr old



and lastly!

I plan on making these projects more of a unit study of each state exploring science, history, math and of course geography.