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"