Christmas in Mexico

The last two weeks we did a "Christmas Around the World." This was our first Christmas homeschooling and I feel like I was more unprepared than I should have been. But we went through it and it turned out good.

We stopped in Mexico first. What was fun about this was the fact that we got to do mini geography along the way. For Mexico we made a pinata. I thought I would let each boy make one... but I really didn't realize how messy it would be, and how much help the boys would need. So we just did one.

I thought we would use newspaper, but the 'news' didn't come that morning so we improvised...
It took a week and a half to dry, and I couldn't hang it, so I filled it with candy and let the boys throw rocks at it. Hey... you do what you can...




We did a day learning about Hanukkah and the boys LOVED playing with the draidle.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

Last week was crazy with the launch and an appointment that I had. So we took last week semi-off, we learned about the first Thanksgiving, but there were no spelling and only one small unit on math. We did a TON of reading and a fun craft.
We finished up on Indians and did some Indian writing on our "animal skin." James' story was really good about hunting and sharing the tent with his friends.

Here is the craft that we did. Plastic Cup Turkeys

The cups were kinda see through, so I had the boys paint the INSIDE of the cup. This kept the mess to a minimum


I had the boys trace the feathers and then cut them out. This is really helping their fine motor skills develop. Tommy had a hard time tracing the side that was blocked by his hand but after a few tries he got it.

And the cutting

Here is the finished product. I think they turned out really cute! {and the boy are happy with anything that has googly eyes :) }

Tommy decided that his needed wings, so he cut a couple extra feathers and made wings for his turkey.

One of the books that we read was "You Wouldn't Have Wanted to Sail on the Mayflower" This really got us started on a great discussion! We talked about the Pilgrims and what they did before, during and after their voyage. We talked about the Indians, and about the living conditions. We talked about boats and the parts on the boats, and how crowded it was. The boys' favorite parts was finding and talking about the poop deck. The told dad that night and he giggle too.... I guess boys never really grow up.

We are taking this next week off {kinda} and we are going to enjoy this holiday with family. But I guess that's the wonderful joy of homeschooling... you are never really off because you can learn anywhere and any time.

Rocket Launch!

On Monday the 16th the boys and I went with some friends to see the Space Shuttle Atlantis take off. TOTALLY AMAZING!!!!!

We got there about 2.5 hours before take off. It was already pretty crowded, but we found a place that would hold 11 kids and 4 adults and sat down for lunch. It was hard for all the kids to be so confined to one area, but they did great.

As you can tell... my kids need hair cuts.

About 30 minutes prior to take off people really started to crowd in, so we moved up closer for a better view. It was good in the fact that we actually got to see a little better, but asking each small kids to stand in a 1 foot square area for 30 minutes is a bit much. Fortunately most people were understanding.

And Tim found that he is still very strong and broke the concrete step.

We waited... and waited.... and waited.... but all that waiting really paid off!!
We had a perfect view for take off!!

{Did you know.... that after only 30 seconds the space ship is traveling 500 mph! And after 2 minute it's going 2000 mph!! We saw the Side Rocket Boosters (SRB) fall off. They land in the Atlantic Ocean and are retrieved and used again. The External Fuel Tank (ET) falls off over the Indian Ocean but it is so far up that it disintegrates as it falls back to earth}

Unfortunately after it took off we didn't see much other than a big tree. I grab Tim and ran a little bit to see it go further into the atmosphere. {fortunately my great friend herded James and Tommy with them and saw that they got back to me}

It was fun to take a learning detour and focus on this for a couple days. The boys loved seeing it and still talk about it. I thing, for them, seeing the shuttle take off really made the things we learn stick. So I'm so glad we did this!!

Every moment was so worth being there!! And I can't wait to do it again.

Rockets and Space Shuttles

We are lucky enough to be able to view a shuttle launch on Monday {the 16th} so to get ready for that, we have been talking about rocket and shuttles and space things. {Odd I know to go from Indians to space exploration and then back to pilgrims... but hey, go with the flow right...}

So I found this little video about space shuttles, the launch and re-entry. there are even questions at the end to answer. It's really cheesy, but the boys loved it! It's on the website Kids Know It under Space Exploration {the best part... it's FREE} Take a look around... this is a site that I will be back to. The way they explain things is great.

I tried the whole baking soda and vinegar thing....

Yeah, it didn't work.

But since we are all here to learn and grow we chalked it up to experience and went inside to make some space ships.

{being boys, they really want to see something explode, so we will try again with the baking soda and vinegar another day}

Hopefully, I'll be back with some really cool rocket pictures... only time will tell.

More Indians

This week we continued with our studies on Indians. We read a story about the Cherokee people and their new year "Harvest Festival"

Each year every family put out their fire in their house. And then the clan leader {family leader} would start a new fire and then each member of his family would take a coal and start their fire with it. So all fires came from one. they then would keep the fire burning all year long until the next Harvest Festival.

We used m&m's, tootsie rolls, and skittles. I built my fire with m&m's {coal} and tootsie rolls {logs} and then I started a fire. {using my skittles.. I used the red yellow and orange ones} Each of the boys built a place with their logs, and then I gave them some coals and the the fire started.

We talked about the word harvest and they types of things we harvest. this will help us easy into next week when we talk about the pilgrims.

Where did the Indians go?

This week we studied about Indians. It was a lot of fun we started by reading "Who Were the First North Americans?" I really enjoy the Usborne books, they have a ton of variety and there books are really easy to understand and fun for the kids.

We read about Totem polls and then we made our own. Only instead of wood.... {we have yet to reach an age of carving} so we used marshmallows and editable markers.




We watched some videos with Indian dances. {this is a hoop dance, and it's really cool}


We talked about the houses the Indians lived in and the difference between a Tee Pee and a Wigwam.


We made headdresses and necklaces. {Tim did really good with that, his fine motor skills are really starting to sharpen and he was so focused on beading his necklace}




{James is shooting an arrow} {wow.... and that's a really fuzzy picture}


This was a fun unit to work on, and the boys had a good time learning about the Native Americans.

Science with Pumpkins

Since we had the pumpkins anyway I thought it would be a good idea to do some science projects with them. this was a lot of fun. I filled up a plastic tote outside. {yes it was warm enouh to use water outside.... and better a mess in the backyard than a lake in the bathroom}

And then we made our predictions.... James thought it would sink, Tommy though it would float and Tim... well he was just excited for the water.

The results....

they float!

James tried to make it sink, but to no avale.

Then we cut them open and cut them open to scoop them out {the longest job during carving, I though we would get it taken care of early} Once again we made predictions about what would be inside. James thought goop, Tommy said it would be empty, and Tim wanted to eat it.

The results....

It was full and there was goop, and seeds!

We talked about how pumpkins are a kind of squash, and how they are the same as other squashes,and how they are different. {we just looked at pictures, but next year I'll buy some other squashes and open them up so we can look and touch them}

Starry Night

One day from our Library I cam home with a puzzle of Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night" I did not realize what that would open! So we did an impromptu lesson on Van Gogh, and his art work. We got online and looked at a bunch of his artwork, and we have a Baby Einstein that showcases Van Gogh's art.

Then we did our own renditions of Starry Night using different mediums.

Here's James art work....

Oil Pastel

Crayon

Marker

Paint

I think he did a really great job. He is able to see a piece of artwork and find something he connects with and start there. With these, he did the bright moon first and then the mountain on the left. He made sure there was red on the mountain because if you look really close and Van Gogh's painting you can see the red that is there.

The next time we went to the library we got some extra books on Van Gogh, and looking though them James decided that "The Potato Eaters" was his favorite painting... because he thinks its funny that someone would paint a picture of someone eating potatoes. {by the way, this was one of Van Gogh's first paintings and done in really dark colors, his love of colors did not come until he moved to France}

Here is Tim doing some artwork. He really likes markers, and the oil pastels.

And here is some of Tommy's artwork.

This is a flag that he made.... we had to have a talk about why we don't use a glue stick to stick things to the walls....

{Tommy glued the crayon to the flag then the flag to the wall}

And here is one of Tommy's pumpkins...{kinda freaky in a funny way}

I'm glad that my boys love art so much, it makes the lessons so fun! And I'm glad that they are finding a love of the famous painters. James now wants to go to New York to see the original painting of "Starry night"

Where do we stand??

With homeschooling I sometimes wonder where the boys stand and if they are meeting up to the standards that are set by the "experts." I know some homeschooling families are more eclectic and don't follow standards, but for me I'm still learning all of this and I like knowing what the standards are.


So here is where we stand. The ones in red we have already mastered.

This is Kindergarten level


Reading

*Know upper and lower-case letters of the alphabet both in and out of sequence
*Know letter sounds for all the consonants and the short vowels
*Know that letters are linked together to form words
*Be able to blend short sequences of phonemes to form words
*Understand syllables, and be able to count the number of syllables in words
*Know simple VCC, CVCC, and CCVC words
*Recognize their own name in print
*Know age appropriate sight words {Dolch word list}
*Be able to order pictures in proper sequence for telling a story
*Listen and respond to a variety of age-appropriate texts, including fiction, non-fiction, myths and legends, fable and folk tales, and poetry
*Know proper methods of holding and positioning writing materials
*Be able to print all the letters of the alphabet, both upper- and lower case
*Be abler toe write simple words, messages, descriptions and stories using basic knowledge of phonics and invented spelling
*Follow simple one and two step directions
*Retell familiar stories
*Invent and tell fantasy stories or recount stories about real-life happenings
*Memorize and recite short poems and rhymes

Math

*Be able to group objects into sets
*Identify and continue simple repeating patterns
*Be able to count from 1-31
*Understand one-to-one correspondence
*Identify ordinal position from first to fifth
*Given number, be able to identify one more or one less
*Understand the concept of one half
*Be able to add and subtract numbers from 1 to 10
*Know the meaning of the plus (+) and minus (-) signs
*Invent and solve simple story problems
*Make and interpret simple pictorial graphs
*Identify pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollar bills, and recognize dollar and cents signs
*Experiment with measurements of length, weight, and capacity
*Know that a thermometer is and what it measures; be able to make simple hotter than/colder than comparisons
*Compare lengths of time that it takes to complete various activities
*Tell time to the hour
*Know the days of the week in order; recognize names of the months of the year
*Identify right hand left hand;be able to use the terms of position and orientation such as closed/open, over/under, in front/in back and so on
*Recognize and identify the basic two-dimensional figures; square rectangle, triangle ect.

History and Geography

*American Indian culture
*Early exploration and settlement
*Revolutionary War
*Famous Americans
*National Symbols
*Learn about families and family life in different times and places around the world
*Be familiar with the use of maps and globes
*Draw simple maps of known areas such as their bedrooms in rooms in their house their yards or neighborhoods
*Know names and location of the seven continents of the world

Science
*Be able to sort objects into groups according to physical characteristics
*Experiment with magnets
*Experiment with lights and shadows
*Be able to discuss difference between living and non living
*Become familiar with plants: beginning botany
*Become familiar with animals: beginning zoology
*The human body: Know five senses and their associated body parts
*Be able to describe the basic composition of the earth
*Know the names and features of the four season
*Be familiar with different types of weather

Art
*Be able to name and describe colors, shapes and lines and identify these in works of art
*Observe and discuss famous works of art by a variety of artists from a range of historical periods
*Experiment with a range of art techniques and media

Music
*Be familiar with such basic elements of music as rhythm, melody, and harmony
*Listen and respond to range of different musical selections both classical and multicultural
*Recognize instruments by sight and sound

Health and Physical Education
*Know the importance of exercise, cleanliness good nutrition and sleep
*Participate in age-appropriate athletic activities

I took these from "Home Learning Year by Year" by Rebecca Rupp. If you are thinking about homeschooling, or if you kids are in public school I think it's a good book to have. The resources that are in here are great. I know there are some moms that are much more sure about where their kids are and don't need this, and to you.... I applaud you! But for me {right now} I feel like I need to have a list, just so I know what I need and were I'm going.

Three Little Pigs

We read the story about the Three Little Pigs. It's one that we know, so it was fun to read different books. We read "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" and talked about how there are different perspectives to different stories.

We tried to blow houses down.
Our straw house was easy to blow down,

The stick house took a little more work

But the brick, or in our case the rock house, we couldn't blow down.

We talked about having a firm foundation. We sang "The Wise Man, and the Foolish Man" and talked about what we need to have a strong foundation.

I also made little cards with pictures on it with what happens in the story.... and had them put it in order. {I think I'm going to make these into file folder games for the boys}

I think it's fun to read these stories again and again.

October 12 - 16

This week we talked about our community and what makes a community. We talked about the business, and services that make up a community. We watched Ben Stiller and Telly sing about the "People in Our Neighborhood"

{I have to thank the husband for being technology advanced.... we have internet hooked up to the TV so we are able to watch things from YouTube and such.} While we were on the internet we decided to take a look at our community through Google Earth. We looked at our neighborhood and then where we use to live in Sierra Vista. We took a look at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and then just for kicks.... we went to Egypt to see the pyramids.

Here is a file folder game that I made. It's a matching StarWars game

I got the idea to use the paint chips from The Snail Trail. I liked using the paint chips to put the other stickers on, it makes them really sturdy. But I used her idea to make the pocket to put everything in, and I'm not sure I did it right but it's really small and tight for little hands so I think I'm going to use 6" envelopes for other's that I do. {I'll post more as I get them done}

I just used stickers, and they are kinda small but I like that. It makes Tommy really look at the pictures to see if they are right.

Here is another game.... This one I made up. I put James' spelling words on sticky notes and put them up around the house and then I give him a spelling word and he has to go and find it. Also I'll put letters around and then he has to find each letter to spell the word.

This is a fun game and gets the boys moving and thinking. When Tommy and Tim both do it together I use two different color sticky notes so the boys know who's is who's.

And here is our Art project... we made our window a huge pumpkin. We just used tissue paper so at night with the lights on inside it makes the pumpkin glow. I think it's kinda cool.

That was our week. It was a crazy one that we took easy because I was potty training Tim so my time was divided.

We are still doing spelling and vocabulary but I'm not going to post that any more. If, however, you want to know what words we are working on let me know and I'll be happy to let you know.

October 5-9

First off I want to say congratulations and good luck to the husband for starting Grad school. In three years he is going to be a Chiropractor. I'm so proud of you Sweetie!

Ok, this week....we carried a lot of things over from last week, spelling and vocabulary.

James worked on lessons 5 and 6 in math. James is moving really quickly through the book, and right now doing two chapters a week. At first we were working out of random workbooks, and James did okay. Once we switched to Math-U-See James has really taken off. I have been very pleased with this program.

Tommy works on worksheets now and then but he is so much more hands on, and we are working on sequencing. So I wrote the numbers from 0-10 on note cards and then let Tommy put them in order. He really like this.

You can't really see it, but James is practicing his spelling. I let him write on the sliding glass door with eh dry erase markers. Tommy is drawing pictures to the words that I put on for him. {Tim.... lost privileges because he was using the markers on himself.... he'll get to try again next time.}

We continued with Christopher Columbus.... And "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue" Even Tim says it now. It's really cute to hear him say it. We made ships and talked about them sailing west.

We also learned that the men on board weren't able to bring a lot of personal things so I got a tote the size of a shoe box and had them get 10 "important" things to see if they would fit.

Tommy decided that his talking race cars were very important. They were all small so he could take them all. {there was a cup and utensils that I also put in there so they could eat on the boat}

James had to narrow his down quite a bit to make it fit. In the end, he brought one car and two stuffed animals.

We learned a little about sinking and floating, and talking race cars sink, raisin boxes... they float.

I also had them draw a picture of what they saw. We also graphed how many things sunk and how many floated. Up next for this.... WHY.... helping them understand why things sink and float.

At the Library I found a puzzle of Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. We put the puzzle together, and then drew some pictures using crayons, markers, and oil pastels. After I found a slide show on the internet of some of some of Vincent's art. The boys really liked all the colors.

Last up.....

A field trip to St. Augustine. We went during a homeschool day, and got to see some really cool things. This is a picture of a 500 year old rudder to a ship. We saw the equipment that the divers use to bring this stuff up, and James got to climb the light house. {Tommy and Tim were to short... maybe next year}

It was a really good... very productive week!!! {I like that feeling}

Spelling {from last week}

Vocabulary {from last week}

Next week..... I'll update you soon

September 28 - October 2

We had a pretty mellow week this week and most of what we did will carry over to next week. The joy of home schooling is that we can take an extra day off now and then. And because the husband has been home we have enjoyed his time. This week we took a day and went to the beach, and the husband and I also took a day and went to the Temple. For those that want to know... the Orlando Temple is really pretty.

The week we started working on Christopher Columbus. We have learned about his birth and trying to get ships to travel to India.

Here is Tommy with his Captain hat on. We also made a "spyglass." We made these on Monday, and the boys have been wearing their captain hats all week.

We also made Lemonade this week. The boys thought that if you squeeze lemons you just get lemonade... kinda like orange juice. So we went through the process. We squeezed the lemons and then I let them try it. The results.... yeah, they didn't like that. I added water.... no good either. So we talked about what we could add to make it better. Flour... salt... cinnamon... crackers... sugar, Yes... sugar! So we added the sugar and then we shook it and whola, we had our lemonade!

Spelling words {going to be carried over to next week}

dog, fat, see, sees, frog, on, log, is, lamp, mat, stand, not, him, catch

Vocabulary Words:

voyages, navigate, pirates, explorer, map, crew, ship

Prophet, Apostles {Conference weekend}

Next week:we will continue with Christopher Columbus, we are also taking a field trip to St. Augustine, and to the light house, we will be taught about ships, treasure, and ocean life.