Going, Going, Gone

Plan B- Oak Ridge Children's Museum

Waterworks- Our favorite exhibit of the day all around.

Michael's first encounter with wildlife.

Tera and Daniel in the watchtower looking for spies

Tera riding the train

Michael's favorite exhibit- "Waterworks"- He loves the water anytime!

Tera conquering the kingdom in the imagination room.

Tera the beekeeper, my hero!

Michael riding the old fashioned baby bouncy seat in Grandma's Attic.

We had planned on going to the Zoo last week to finish our science unit on Classifying Animals but JP had to work, so we scheduled it for today since he was off for Daniel's birthday. Only one problem, it rained all morning so Plan B. I looked up the Children's Museum in Oak Ridge, got directions and we were off.

Happy Birthday Daniel- Part 1

Daniel's 7th birthday is tomorrow. I had given up on friend parties a few years ago but Daniel really wanted to have a few people over so I gave in to a low key get together with some of his friends. The above cupcakes are horses which are Daniel's favorite. The kids thought they were dogs, buffalos, you name it, but oh well. We had pizza, popcorn, watched Homeward Bound. Daniel's pen pal made him the horse pictured above, which he loves already. All the little boys made Daniel gifts and cards which was really sweet. The best part of the night came after Daniel gave out "treat bags", JP had bought "groucho" glasses which were the hit of the party. We'll have our family party on Daniel's birthday tomorrow. It was a fun night and very special for Daniel.

Unit Week Last Day

Our last day was a really cool day. We did an activity with fingerprinting in the morning for Science but around lunch time, we had some homeschooling friends over to do some group Colonial activities. If it had not been for my friend Sarah, we would have had a rough go of it.

We did all kinds of activities:

• played games- Colonial tops, whirligigs, (which Sarah figured out and showed the kids), ball and triangle game, ball and cup game, marbles, bowling
• solved riddles, tried rebus puzzles and tongue twisters
• made Johnny cakes and homemade butter (as pictured above)
• "sewed" colonial pockets
• ate lots of bread and gingercake
• played hide and seek and tag
• watched America Rock while making butter
• made Marigold dye

It was a great day!

Michael-6 months take 2

I know grandparents don't want to see just baby booties so here are a few shots I took last night of our big boy in his high chair. Most pictures were like the first one, all he was interested in was the strap on his high chair but I managed to get a few face shots.

Unit Week Day 4

As I said earlier this week, we are one big happy family but even happy families have their really off days. Mom and Dad "misunderstanding" each other, one child throwing water on the ceiling and the bathroom floor for fun, a cranky tired baby, (Tera actually had a pretty good day today- yesterday she dumped water on my teacher's edition and tripped on the living room lamp bending it before catching it so it didn't knock Michael on the head)- that in a nutshell has been our last two days. We are not perfect by any means, we are just getting by some days- today was one of those days. How we accomplished so much is a miracle.

Today we:

• reviewed our French with Muzzy



• read a booklet on Animals



• made a peek inside log cabin



• made a "bark" hornbook and wrote on it with a "quill" pen



• read about Colonial schools, play and life



• made models of spiders and insects

It doesn't sound like as much today but it took us a great deal of time to finish our projects. Tomorrow we finish up our week long unit, it's our big day. Games, Recipes and Colonial School activities. The kids can't wait.

Michael -6 Months

Michael turns 6 months old tomorrow. Time flies so quickly. He is such a blessed addition to our family. He is 26 1/2 inches long and 16 1/2 lbs. He has almost doubled his body weight since he was born. Right now, grabbing hair and pretend coughing are some of his hobbies when he is not drinking bottles, needing diaper changes and smiling with a great big adorable grin. He rolls over and sits up with a little help. Michael is adored especially by his sister and brother. They are so attentive to him and making him happy. We are truly one big happy family.

Slip Slidin' Away

JP took the day off Saturday and made a slip n' slide in the back yard. We ironed out some kinks for the future. The kids had fun...see for yourself!

Unit Week Day 3

Day 3 of our Unit week was just a little hectic but very successful. JP worked until 1 AM last night so needless to say, I was just a little tired going into today, but we finished everything on our list.

Today we:

• Tested for life by finding objects and asking the living vs. non/living questions: Does it reproduce? Does it respond to its environment? Does it adapt to its environment? Does it have cells? Does it need energy? Does it grow and develop?
• Investigated with insect mouth parts. Made models of insect food and insect mouths and then predicted which mouth would best eat which food.
• Compared the cover of birds and mammals by examining with a magnifying glass feathers and hair. Compared what happened when we dripped water on the feather and hair. (I would have had a picture of some of this but it was a little hectic and our session ended with water dumped on my new teacher's edition and me in a self imposed time out), but all ended well.
• Talked about the differences between warmblooded and cold blooded animals as well as the different types of eaters- (carni-, herbi-, and omni-)
• Made Pequot Indian Dioramas (pictured above) from the book Easy Make and Learn Projects: Colonial America loaned to me by a friend, (which I cannot link to for some reason). www.allboyhomeschool.blogspot.com
• Read about the three divisions of the colonies: New England, Middle and Southern
• Colored our 13 colonies map to reflect the three divisions.
• Reviewed The Preamble with hand motions.

All in all, a full and fun day. The kids are upstairs making their own dioramas. All is quiet on the homefront---for now.

Unit Week

We are trying a new schedule this year. 3 weeks of core subjects- handwriting, spelling, reading, math, and language. 1 week on a science and social studies unit study. Tera and Daniel read material from the textbooks and other books dealing with our subject areas during the 3 weeks prior to the unit. This is our unit week. Above are two of the projects Tera and Daniel have done so far this week- paper weaving and line art drawings of a turtle. I think they turned out well but I also believe I'm missing some of my hair especially from the line drawings.

We are doing a Colonial Life unit this week as well as Classifying Animals unit in Science. We are covering different facets of Colonial Life as well as learning the 13 original colonies and The Preamble. Mostly we are reviewing their reading and having a lot of fun with Colonial life- weaving, a little cross stitching, making butter and other recipes, playing Colonial games, exploring school life in Colonial times and more. We have been reading through the novel Johnny Tremain that is set during the Revolutionary period. It has been a great read so far, and we look forward to finishing it soon. It's hard to read out loud with Michael sometimes, he loves to try and eat books right now.

Our classifying animals study is including a lot of experiments and hands-on activities. We are building spider and insect models, experimenting with ants, testing for living and non-living things and other experiments. We've learned about the different ways to classify animals- (vertebrates vs. invertebrates, warm blooded vs. cold blooded) Yesterday the kids made a model of the spine using spools of thread and a straw.

Of course, we are also doing art projects which we never seem to be able to have time to do at other times. I am hoping this schedule will work well for us this year. It always feels there is not enough time to cover everything so this is my solution for our family.

So Thankful

I am combatting feeling down with blogging about why I am so thankful. We are doing the Overtime Shuffle around and so tired, but I'm thankful because:

• Michael had a doctor's appointment with an urologist for a common problem in baby boys. Worse case scenario would require surgery and overnight stay at the hospital. The doctor thinks the problem is healing itself and we don't have to go back until Michael is a year old. Such an answer to prayer.
• We live so close to a Children's Hospital with great specialists and short wait times.
• JP has a job that meets all our needs.
• I have three beautiful children who are loving and love spending time with our family doing things.
• I have learned how to cook from scratch. (not this week, but over time)
• We have been getting produce from our garden, a little here and a little there.
• My children love to learn.
• We've made new friends since moving here two years ago.
• I have a bread machine.
• My family loves me very much.
• No matter how much I mess up, God still forgives.

This list could go on and on, but that about sums it up for today. We'll update on school next week.

Bean Pickin'

We planted a few bush bean plants this year. Tera and Daniel picked the ones that were ready last weekend. Then they snapped them all themselves. They did better than I did when I was a kid. We enjoyed them with our lunch on Sunday. There is nothing better than homegrown green beans.

Curriculum 2009-2010

Tera (3rd grade) and Daniel (2nd grade) each have a folder that keeps their weekly assignment sheets as well any worksheets they are working on. They also keep all their written work in these folders.

Reading- We started this year with Abeka readers but Tera wants to read "living books" this year, so she will begin to check out books from the library to read and write book reports about. Daniel will probably do the same later on this year. My kids read a lot on their own which I am very thankful.

Grammar- This year I started doing Grammar with both kids together. They use the same book that I picked up at a thrift store a few years back. We go over the lesson together, then they each complete the exercises separately.

Handwriting and Spelling- We use A Reason for...curriculum for Handwriting and Spelling. This is the second year for Handwriting but our first experience with the Spelling curriculum. I really like both these books. The handwriting book has four daily lessons with a Scripture verse as the practice work. The spelling books give the kids a lot of different activities to do with their spelling. This is the very first time I have ever bought a Spelling curriculum, I have used list found on the internet in previous years. It is refreshing not to have to come up with the ideas all on my own. The kids especially like it.



Math- We are a Saxon household. It works really well with our kids. Tera is in 65 this year. I am going to try and push Daniel ahead a little this year. He breezes through the exercises so we are hoping to do Math 2 this semester and Math 3 next semester, but I'll let him lead on that.

Social Studies- For social studies I use Bob Jones Heritage Studies 3 as a springboard. Tera and Daniel read the chapter and then I plan a unit on that subject. This semester we are in American history. Some units we are covering are: Colonial America, Lewis and Clark, Westward Expansion and/or Pioneer Days and beginning the Civil War. I am excited about our social studies this year. We hope to do a great deal of hands-on learning. I also pick a book from the Sonlight list that goes along with our unit of study as a read aloud. Right now, we are reading Johnny Tremain. I never read it growing up, so I am enjoying it right along with them.



Science- I use Bob Jones Science 3 as a springboard as well as the Tennessee Standards for Science. Some units we are doing this semester are: Classifying Animals, Birds, and Human Body. We are also studying life cycles and will try our hand at a Live Butterfly Garden. Science in the past has not been as hands-on as I would like, so this year I am trying extra hard to make that happen.