Homeschool Mothers Journal- Fevers are your Friend!

In my life this week…
A much calmer week now that that Thanksgiving is over. We got hit with another BAD rainstorm and we realized that the new roof that was just put on a month ago and already repaired once is STILL leaking and we had water running down our walls from the attic to the basement. I spent many hours on the phone trying to get this fixed.

In our homeschool this week…
I realized Falcon is having some serious issues with multiple choice tests. Either he is just rushing and not taking the time or his dyslexia might be playing a part in this. He failed many multiple choice tests. When I gave him tests that he needs to write the entire answer out for and not choose he gets is right 90% of the time.Not sure if I should foucus on teaching him to take multiple choice tests or just move on they are such a big part of schooling even in college. I am bad a those tests too I would take an essay any day over a multiple choice test.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
We enjoyed ourselves at the Zoo sketching animals on a beautiful sunny 30 degree day.

My favorite thing this week was…
Seeing the Chinese Alligator lunge at the glass and try to attack us multiple times as we walked up to the exhibit. That was super fun usually the gators are just sitting in the water doing nothing.

Things I’m working on…
Our Elf on a Shelf arrived and the kids wanted to know if our Elf had any friends and what their names are. We found out that she has many friends but 2 best friends Icicle from Siberia and Candycane from the Cayman Islands. We are hoping to find out more about what the familes are like they are staying with and do some studies on those countries. :)Falcon will be working
on a project tied into this for his creative writing.

I’m reading…



I read this many years ago in college for and Anthropology of Medicine course. Lets just say that class has changed my life and the way I look at sickness. Every time my children get sick I need to repeat in my head "fevers are your friend leave them be" Mainstream society makes you think that if you get a fever you need to lower it because it is a BAD thing. They are so WRONG think about why you get a fever. You are usually infected with some sort or virus or bacteria. This is your bodies defense mechanism to turn up the heat and kill off that bacteria. When you take a fever reducing drug you are making your body work harder. Your symptoms may lessen and you may feel better but if you look inside your body that's a whole different story. The bacteria it multiplying super fast and causing your body to work ever harder to build up its white blood cell army to fight the damage you have done So why would you make yourself sicker? Well doctors tell you it's the right thing to do. The problem is most doctors have no idea how to cure patients anymore all they know how to do is give drugs to cover symptoms. Ever been to the doctor? How many drug reps were in the caiting room? Very sad. Quote from the book "using drugs to suppress fever may sometimes make people sicker or even kill them"
This entire book is highly educational and is always on my dresser to read. I find myself pulling it out and reading it every time my children get a fever. Like last night when Duck and Owl had 104 temps. This morning they are feeling a bit better and are down to 100-101. I feel better knowing that I am letting their bodies do what it was made to do.

I’m cooking…
A Paleo type fudge that I am still tweaking.


A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Zoo Sketching and Lady Bug Learning.

After circle time was over I decided to bust out a new game that I found at Toys R Us


Flip over three cards to create a new challenge. Can you crab walk to the bedroom with the fish under your chin? Can you dance around a chair with the fish between your knees? There are hundreds of hilarious possibilities, and every game is belly-laughing fun. We had a blast doing these activities together it was a great fun way to get kids moving, laughing and working on memorization.

The last Challenge Robin did said to Tip toe to a book with the fish inside your clothes. Robin then brought me the book...


Great! I thought to myself we need to work on time anyway so we read the book together and got our our foam clock to change the times along with the book.


After the story we cut out a leaf and used clovers as aphids (what was on hand)
and rolled our dice to do some adding and subtracting work while pretending to be ladybugs eating the aphids!

What fun! I love when spontaneous ideas make learning so fun. This is why I have such a hard time sticking with a set curriculum. I love when life just creates learning.


Drawing is something my kids all struggle with and get discouraged easily. Today we finished up our school work early so we headed to the zoo on a beautifully sunny 30 degree day to sketch some zoo animals. The Wolves were just laying around up by the glass posing for us. The Tiger was pacing back and forth roaring right up by the front of the exhibit. We had the zoo totally to ourselves it was so nice to let my littles ones run and not worry about them getting lost in a crowd.



Falcon drew the 2 at the top Robin drew the one on the bottom. We added these to our zoo sketch book folders.

Elf on a Shelf ideas week 1

Our elf arrived on Thanksgiving right before dinner. During dinner we discussed names and all 4 kids finally agreed on Peppermint our female Elf on a shelf.

Day 1 after her first day here she returned from the north pole and held a tea party on the kitchen counter spilling all sorts of tea bags on the while she sipped tea with a few of her Christmas friends.

Day 2 We found Peppermint riding on a red and black toilet paper tube airplanes we made a few months ago above the dining room table.



Day 3 Peppermint was watching Christmas movies on the chair and brought us a new movie from Santa. Monster House. Robin was mad that Santa brought her a movie that scary. Duck and falcon enjoyed it though.

Day 4 We found our lovely elf doing a Christmas themed picture search puzzle on the table. she wrote a little note that said to do well at school today because Santa was watching.

Day 5 Before Robin went to bed she asked peppermint if there was a snow storm at the north pole. When she came back she left us a note that said, yes there was a big snow storm, so I made dome snowflakes for you I hope I do not get stuck. After searching high and low we found peppermint stuck yo the wall while hanging up snowflakes she made for us.


Day 6 she was hiding in the kitchen in a holiday decoration.

Day 7 She came back from the North Pole answering the question "how many friends do you have?" With an answer of I have many friends but 2 best friends Icicle and Candycane. We are hoping she will soon answer the question about where her other elf friends are in the world and what their families are like. Check next weeks blog post too see. Peppermint was hanging out in Robin's room last night dressed up in a Barbie dress and brought us another new movie. This movie wasn't to scary for Robin it was Barbie in the Princess and the Pauper.

America the Beautiful.

Appreciating the beauty of Our country.

We painted these beautiful pictures of "purple mountain majesties" after we discussed Katharan Lee Bates who wrote the poam America the Beautiful. Robin loved singing it with me.



Monday was a warmer than normal November day and we spent 3 hours playing outside.while I was going up and down on the seesaw with Duck I thought of a very cool art project we will be doing later this month.

We started back up with our state studies we are now studying Conneticut home of the first hamburger.

My littles really enjoyed making letter Hamburger patties.


Our Elf on a Shelf came to our house on Thanksgiving right before we ate. The kids named her Peppermint.

We woke up Friday morning to Peppermint's tea party she had after she returned from the north pole. Do you have an Elf? We would love you to leave a comment and tell us your Elf's name and what He/She has been up to.

Falcon is finishing up Treasure Island this week and continuing his studies on the Korean war.

We will be wrapping up our ocean theme next week and completing Robin's Sea Turtle project for Girl Scouts. I just need to decide how I want the project to look I keep changing my mind.

Giant Edible Gingerbread House.

This was the Giant Gingerbread House that you could walk through. It is completely made out of food and is edible.




Here are the smaller houses that you could vote on.Local Culinary Arts students have designed and created gingerbread houses that are on display for a school project. They were amazing, the students spent 2 months planning their projects. Here are some of our favorites there were 38 in all.







23 was Robin's favorite.


Front!


Back!
It was hard to choose but this one was a favorite of Falcon and I. The pumpkin patch in the backyard was too cute!

Homeschool Mothers Journal- The Stinky edition!

In my life this week…
Ahhhhhh the smell of dead animals. About a month back we noticed rats in our crawl space addition that cannot be accessed easily. We were able to get some Decon down the wall that they had chewed a hole in and I had set traps outside as well. After 2weeks..... no more activity. Yay, they were gone! Decon is supposed to dry them out so when they die they don't smell. They did not until the new roofers screwed up which caused a delay in getting our gutters up when it POURED!.I never knew how important gutters are on a house until then. Well water got into the crawl space and re-hydrated the dead rats. Now it SMELLS! I did discover the smell was coming through the only access to the crawl, the small window. Wind was wafting in through the cracks giving my house the wonderful aroma of dead RAT!



Nothing a little Duct tape cant fix! I sealed the gaps around the window and for now I do not smell anything, YaY! Fingers crossed that the smell wont work it's way up through the floor boards in our dining room. I could fit through that window if I really wanted to but, there is only enough space in there to army crawl around and if the smell doesn't go away that will be the fun I will get to endure. So cross your fingers for me that they will dry back out and become one with the earth!

In our homeschool this week…
Well it was short but productive. I usually don't give extra days off besides Thanksgiving but my best friend is in town from Florida so we took Wed-Fri off. We did go to see a huge edible gingerbread house I will be blogging all about it in a few days and linking up to the homeschool field trip blog hop.

Outside my window...
I see Rain, rain and rain!

Questions/thoughts I have…
Thinking that maybe I might be ready to add another baby to our nest!As my 2 year old gets bigger I am sad to not have a baby around but happy at the same time that I am able to sleep longer stretches at night.

I’m cooking…
Thanksgiving Dinner and all the fix In's of course!

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

So sad that this is the way the world is moving. I love my tech toys but still take the time to unplug sometimes. I told my husband I wanted to start a TV and digital game free Sundays and he said sure go ahead but I won't be part of it! GRRRRRRR! Well I can't really tell the kids they cant do it but Daddy can. Maybe I will have one school day tech free were we will school without the use of any electronics, that would be a hard one!

Pumpkin Play Doh and Peanut Dog Treats

The best dog treat recipes ever no raw ingredients so its safe for little helpers to play with.

Peanut Poppers
4 cups whole wheat flour
2T baking powder
2 cups milk
1 16 oz jar natural peanut butter (creamy works best)I use Smuckers natural

Knead together (I just throw it all in a bowl and squish it together with my hands. Once it's pretty much mixed I give each child a hunk to knead)then roll out to 1/4 in thick or roll them into one inch balls and smush them down with your palms
Bake 375 for 20 min

This recipe is so easy and nothing that is raw so the kids coud play with it all day then bake it for the dogs. My kids have even been known to eat the dough.
it will make enough treats to fill a big freezer bag. I store in the fridge to keep fresh longer mine have kept for 2 months in the fridge. I had them mold on me once in a jar under the sink but I forgot about them for 4 or more months! We love to make these as Christmas presents to family members who have dogs.

Here are our festive turkey treats




My son thought it would be funny to use the people cutter and feed the dog people. I thought it was rather funny myself!

We also made pumpkin pie play doh. It smells so good.
You'll Need:

2 cups of flour
1 cup salt
4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/4 cup cinnamon
1 Tbsp. cloves
1 Tbsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ginger
2 cups water
2 Tbsp. oil

To Make:

1. Mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar, and spices together in a mixing bowl.

2. Add the water and oil to the dry ingredients and mix together well.

3. Transfer mixture to a medium sized saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly.

4. The dough will begin to thicken and form. When it becomes difficult to stir and is more solid, remove from heat and carefully knead the dough. {Note: dough will be hot!}

5. When dough has cooled, have fun playing ~ this is great for the holidays!!