Homeschool Highlights - Week of August 14, 2011

Sunday:

Worship Services.  Although financially it's not always nice having hubby home, it is nice to have him attend worship services with us as a family!

We had planned on going to a bonfire/cookout hosted by some of our church family, but the weather had other ideas.  It poured down 10 minutes before we were ready to leave. 

Monday: 

Therapy.

Science:  We found a tree frog and discussed camoflage.  This poor, unfortunate frog to be found by a family of homeschoolers!  We took him around from place to place to see if he would camoflage himself to the color of the item where we put him.

Science/lifeskills:  Shayla watched as dad patched a lawn mower tire.  *He is really starting to get into the role of Homeschool Dad!

Science/Caring:  We have been taking care of two small kitties.  The mother is not taking care of them well.  I do not believe she makes enough milk for them both.

Read Aloud:  Curious George Flies a Kite by HA Rey.  Discussed when and how curiousity can be a good thing or a bad thing.  We took turns reading this aloud, then we enjoyed this beautiful, breezy, unseasonably cool day by flying a kite.

Geography/Social Studies:  Create Your Own Country.  We looked at maps and the globe and Shayla decided where her country would be located.

She made a map and flag of ShaylaLand and what currency and government would be. 

Activities: 
Dance Ribbon.  Bended a wire clothes hanger  into a circle shape, then tied many colored bandannas on it and danced and ran outside.  It was a breezy day, so we discussed how the wind helped the movement. (music & movement, science, phys ed)

Dancing With Scarves.  Shayla chose to listen to the Rome VBS music from several years ago to dance to.  (phys ed, music & movement)

Detergent Poster Paint.  Mix powdered paint with liquid laundry detergent.  Yes, we actually had this stuff on hand!  I bought the powdered paint many moons ago when Ben Franklin was going out of business.  It made a great paint, just a little on the runny side. (art, measurements and mixing)

Digging for Treasure.  Shayla loves this game.  I hid 24 small toys in the rock pile and she used spoons, shovels, etc to find them.  I would have used the sand pile, but we have outside cats now, and um...well, we no longer play in the sand.

Tuesday: 
Therapy.




Wednesday:
Therapy.

Literature based unit study:  Simple Pictures Are Best by Nancy Willard and illustrated by Tomie DePaola. 

After reading the story, we discussed why simple pictures may be best and why it would have been good advice for the characters in the story.

Since Shayla was supposed to do Basic Photography in 4H this summer, (but we didn't find the time to get to it).  I had one of those temporarily insane moments and let her use my camera to take pictures.  We tried wildlife and still-life shots.  The wild life shots, well, they didn't turn out well since the wildlife wouldn't remain still.  But here is one of her still life shots.

Field Trips:  It just so happened that we took a field trip of sorts to watch Morgan have her second batch of senior pictures taken with a photographer.  These were outside shots and he explained to us what he was looking for as far as sunlight and backgrounds and such.

Thursday:  Therapy.

Geography:  Name That Country.  We threw the inflatable globe back and forth and where ever your thumb lands, identify the name of the country. 

Literature based unit study:  Meet Michael's Dentist.  Just in time for our dental checkup this evening. 

We play dentist with her dolls.  It helps to ease the tension of a dental appointment.

 

Saturday: 

• therapy

Literature based unit study:  There's a Hole in the Bucket by Nadine Bernard Westcott.  I love the illustrations in this book!  It is based on the traditional song. 

We discussed common sense.  How the whole situation could have been avoided if Henry would have used common sense and thought for himself and how frustrated Liza was with having to explain everything.  We also discussed the virtue of patience, since the illustrations clearly showed Liza was losing patience with Henry.

The activity we did involved water and measurements.  I filled an ice cream bucket with water and we measured the amount at 4 inches.  Shayla used a bowl to transfer the water from the full bucket to an empty bucket.  We then measured the water at 3-1/2 inches, so we found that we lost 1/2 inch in transferring. 

Then the fun begins, I poked several holes in the bottom of the bowl used to transfer the water.  This time she only had 1-1/2 inches of water!  She lost half of her water because of the holes in the bucket. 

(reading, music, character, math, measurements, estimating, phys ed)


This would be a great game as a relay race with more children!

Social Studies:  Plan a Dream Vacation.  Based on Shayla's interest in dogs, we planned a dream vacation attending the largest dog show in the world, which was in Denmark.  First, we located Denmark on the globe.  Then we watched a youtube on the dog show and another on the country of Denmark. 

Homeschool Highlights - Week of August 22, 2011

Sunday:

Worship services.  We all enjoyed and took much from the message about humility, gentleness, and patience.

Learning Games:  Played Dora memory matching card game.  Mom won with 19 matches to Shayla's 17.

New School Dedication Ceremony.  Even though this is our last year with the public school (Morgan is a senior!  Yay!)  We still thought it would be nice to attend the ceremony.  Especially since Morgan was playing in the band for the ceremony AND because after the "official" ceremony, a group of Christians representing many churches and denominations in the county, came together and prayed around the new school.  It was an awesome experience and I feel privileged that we were able to be a part of this!

Family movie:  Yes, I consider this to be school.  Shayla doesn't watch television.  Her ADHD brain can't sit still long enough.  I have been picking family movies on Netflix based on an email list of good movies sent out from Above Rubies awhile back. 

Today we watched Lassie.  We used the movie to discuss many social/character traits such as:  love, honesty, forgiveness, etc.   In the end, she really enjoyed the movie!

Monday:

Literature based unit studies:  King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood.  (These are not the most fun activities, but some are part of the curriculum we have been using)

• Reviewed definition of compound words, then identified words in the story.
• Taught story elements:  setting, characters, identified problem, events, and problem solution.
• Studied details of illustrations on each page.
• Sequence.  Identified events in sequential order
• What are some things you like to do in the tub? 
• Write and illustrate a similar story.
• And of course, Shayla's favorite, take a nice, leasurely bath, just like King Bidgood (although, not as long!)

(reading, language, art appreciation)

4H meeting.  Planning for fair booth.  We have not attended a meeting in quite awhile, and Shayla was back to her old habits of covering her ears. :(


Tuesday/Wednesday:
therapy.

Thursday:

therapy.

Literature based unit study:  We're Going On a Bear Hunt retold by Michael Rosen

• Rhythm and expression.  The book was a variation of the song. 
• Music & Movement
• Discussed onomatopoeia - words that imitate sounds, like squish, or buzz.  Identified examples of onomatopoeia in the story.
• Sang and did movements to other verses/obstacles of the song/story.  Some were different verses that we had heard before and others we made up ourselves.
• Used teddy bears to demonstrate location/directional oppositional words (over-under, in-out, on-off, above-below)
• Discussed fantasy vs. reality or fiction vs. non-fiction stories and gave several examples of each.  Shayla decided that this story was fictional and I asked her to support her reasoning.  She made several good arguements, including the hunters did not have guns - in case they were attacked, and you would not take small children and babies hunting for bears.
• Art with watercolors.  We looked at the artwork in the story and decided it was an example of watercolor painting.  Shayla used her watercolor paints to paint a picture of a teddy bear.
• Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations has put together an awesome pack to go along with Going on a Bear Hunt, which is also a BFIR book. 

Chalk Games. 

• hopscotch (phys ed)
• Jumping contest.  Use chalk to mark how far each person can jump, then measure (math, measurements)
• Hit the Spot.  Draw a circle in the middle of the playing field.  Bounce a tennis ball in the circle.  Another player catches ball, or you can bounce it against a wall.  Player is out when they do not bounce ball in the spot. (movement, eye/hand co-ordination)

Friday:

• therapy

• Literature Based Unit Study:  Heckedy Peg by Audrey Wood. 
• Review contractions.  Identified contractions in the book and told what words made up the shortened word.  Discussed what letters were omitted when the word was shortened. 
• The names of the children in this story are the days of the week.  We sang Dr. Jean's Days of the Week song and practiced writing out the days of the week.  *Note to self:  Need to review capitalization rules.
• Comprehension:  How did the mother guess which foods the witch had turned her children into? 
• Character trait:  Obedience.  How would the story have changed if the children would have obeyed their mother?
• I made up an awesome worksheet for this.  I used Google image to make the foods the children asked the mother to get and the foods the children were turned into.  She was going to cut them out and glue them on a paper.  In between, she would write the name of the child (Sunday, Monday, etc) BUT, my printer was giving me issues and when I was working on those, my computer restarted and all my hard work was GONE!  UGH!

(language, music, writing, reading comprehension, character training)

Geography/Social Studies:

 

Attended Morgan's first football game of the season.  I plan on making it to more games this year since she is a senior.  :/

She starts off by cheering the pre-game and first half of the game!

Then at half-time, she switches up to march in the marching band.  Yes, the picture is blurry, but she's always on the move!

In the end, our team lost, but we had great time!

Saturday: 

Geography/Social Studies:  We received our first postcard from photocrossing.  It came from Dresden, Germany.  We also received an email that Shayla's second postcard had been received to it's destination in Russia.

Homeschool Highlights - Week of August 9 - 13, 2010

VBS Week!  Our church set sail on a High Seas Expedition this year!

We learned that:

• God's Word is Exciting
• God is Surprising
• God is  Comforting
• God is Life-Changing
• God's Word is for Everyone

God is comforting like a teddy bear!

Using a homemade cannon to shoot down the cups

Dee does a wonderful job with songtime and skits.

 What a fun, yet exhausting week! 

Homeschool Highlights - Week of July 18, 2010

We are kind of on vacation.  I mean a workcation.  Dad took some much needed time off from his job, so our schedules are definately, um, off and um, different.  LOL!

Sunday:

• Attended worship services. 
• Spent some time listening to Mom read aloud.
• Watched Radio, a family movie. 
• Lots and lots of swimming time!

Monday:

Water works program.  This week's theme:  Pirates. 

Station 1:  Before the voyage begins, each table had to come up with an original pirate name.  We were the Treasures. 

Each child made a pirate hat and do a skull and crossbones dot-to-dot.

Look at my silly pirate!

We then had to find people who had completed 5 challenges.  When we got 5 in a row, we had a "Blimey."  Examples of the questions were:  Find someone who has swabbed a deck (or mopped the floor), find someone who has been on a boat, someone who has eaten lobster, etc.

Station 2:  Bandaging a fellow pirate.  Shayla was chosen to help Nikki complete this task!

Station 3:  Go to the Island and have a scavenger hunt.  Oh, but to make this challenge more difficult, the teams had to hold onto a rope made of tied rags!  :)

Station 4:  Pin the Feather on the Parrot.  Team members had to give verbal directions to the blindfolded team member. 

Station 5:  Get on the Island Away From the Sharks game (a variation of musical chairs).  Hula hoops on the floor represented islands.

Tuesday:

Reading:  Finished up the second summer reading challenge from our local library.  She had to complete eight activities including: 

• read a magazine
• read a fiction book
• read a book about water or pirates
• listen to a music CD

Her prize?  She got to select a book to keep! 

Wednesday: 

Met with the co-ordinator of the Independent Studies program at the Christian school she will begin attending in the fall. 

It sounds like it's going to be a little more paperwork for mom, but lots of fun and more opportunities for friendship for Shayla.

Thursday:

I don't think even the most organized person could have fit anything more into our day!

Summer is when we try to take care of all the routine appointments.  Today (don't ask me how it happened), we managed to get 1 doctor appointment, 3 dental cleanings and 1 eye doctor visit in.

Friday: 

Dance classes.  Shayla had a few surprises today.  First off, dance was at a different location (which we had discussed the difference prior to going.)  When we got there, we were pleasantly surprised that Shayla's private lessons are no longer private.  She is being joined by a girl the same age as her with special needs that are similar to her. 

We spent some of the evening processing plums.  My aunt and uncle recently blessed me with five bags of fresh plums.  Unfortunately, my schedule has been too full to do anything with them, but today something HAD to be done with them, because, well, we all know fresh fruit doesn't last.  LOL! 

Shayla enjoys "giving the food a bath," carrying it over and squishing it through the strainer. 


Saturday: 

Nature Detectives program.  Today's theme:  Animals on the Move.

This is the flying squirrel craft that Shayla made.

 Beetles were put on these lines to have a race.

Mazie the corn snake, eating lunch.  Eeww!!!

Homeschool Highlights - Week of July 11, 2010

Will someone please tell me where summer has gone?  UGH! 

Sunday:

Went fishing as a summer fun thing with our church group.  We had fun laughing, talking, roasting hot dogs over a fire.  We didn't catch a fish, but others did.  Fisherman is not on my mommy resume.  LOL!  But we did make an attempt.

Monday: 

Surprise Day! 

First, Shayla received her prize pack from the Star Family.  It included Badge 6, a DVD, a music CD, several Bible memory verse cards and a letter from Miss Adria! 

Next, an unexpected visit and a call from different family members.  Both were welcome changes in routine!

Water Works program.  This week's theme:  Watery Crafts!

This was definately a hit.  There were more kids at this class than all the classes thus far.  I don't think Shayla is the only child to enjoy crafts and hands-on fun.

Station 1:  Flowery necklaces.

They strung these fabric flowers and bits of straw to make beautiful necklaces or bracelets.

Station 2:  Balloon Boats.  Nikki helped the kids turn balloons and bubble wrap into a cute boat craft. 

Station 3:  Footprints in the Sand.  The kids stepped into a pan filled with sand and made imprints of their feet.  Next, Morgan and Miss Ellen poured plaster of paris in the footprints to make models of their feet.

Station 4:  Sand Castles.  This was by far Shayla's favorite!  They started with 3 toilet paper tubes and covered them with glue, then sand. 

Station 5:  Watery pictures.  The kids colored an ocean scene on heavy paper.  Then they painted over it with blue magic water to make a shimmery effect.

Here are all the projects she proudly made!

Tuesday:

And the crafts just keep coming! 

Wild Days at the State Park.  This is another wonderful science based program.  Kids spend two hours, two days each summer month, moving from station to station.

Station 1:  The kids learned about a watershed and water pollution with this hand-on fun, learning diagram.

Shayla was adding some "pesticide" into the mix.

Station 2:  Earth bracelets. We learned about reducing, reusing, and recycling and why we should be good stewards of the earth.   The kids made a beaded bracelet and were given a paper that told the symbolic meaning of each color of bead. 

Station 3:  Rainsticks.  Miss Daneen showed us some Native American rainsticks made from cactus. 

Then we made our own out of cardboard tubes.  We pounded nails in, then added beans and rice for sound.  Last comes the fun part!  Painting, adding leather cord and beads, and feathers. 

Station 4:  Queen Anne's Lace.  We learned about this beautiful wildflower, then we used the heads of the flowers for paintbrushes.

Wednesday: 

Library show:  Papa Dioux's Well.  Lindsey, a storyteller from World of Difference, talked to us about life in Haiti and taught us some Creole language.  She demonstrated how the people carry five gallon buckets of water on their heads for miles, then with help from the audience she retold a traditional folk tale from Haiti about why the lizard drinks from water puddles and hides from all the other animals. 

At the end of the show we had an opportunity to look at Lindsey's scrapbook from her trip to Haiti and to purchase a t-shirt.  Shayla was more than happy to have another t-shirt to add to her collection!

Thursday: 

Started our Science Wonders badgework.

Who needs textbooks to learn sciencce when you have baby kittens?  The girls are having so much fun this summer with this litter of baby kitties.  They spent some time watching them and caring for them.

Friday: 

Dance lessons!  After a two week break, Shayla resumed her dance lessons.  She was glad to be back, oh, and she had an extra spring in her step today because big sister, Morgan, came to watch her dance today!

Field trip: 

The Beach!  Our family and one of Morgan's friends, enjoyed a fun and relaxing afternoon together in the sun, sand, and water! 

What a great way to reconnect and recharge!

Homeschool Highlights - Week of July 4, 2010

Shayla has finally realized what summer vacation is.  I had hoped to do school straight through the summer, no such luck. Oh well. . . I guess we are both taking a much needed break from doing papers, but not hands-on learning.

Sunday:

We attended my sister-in-law's wedding.  The couple made it official after having been together for 19 years! 

I took some of the photographs.

It was a great time seeing the two become a couple and visiting with family and friends.

Next, we went to several annual July 4th celebrations to visit with friends and watch the fireworks by the lake.

Monday & Tuesday: 

The only educational thing I can think of is phys ed.  Shayla has learned how to swim.  I think she has turned into a mermaid! 

Wednesday:

Went to our library's summer reading program and watched storyteller/magician, Tess Schimko.  Again, the show was entertaining for kids and adults alike.

The kids especially enjoyed meeting Marshmallow, the rabbit, instead of a skunk that they thought was hiding in the box.

I liked how she incorporated specific children's books into her show.  Bet those books will be checked out a lot.

Friday: 

Field trip:  We went to our local water park for some fun.  Oh, and I forgot to mention, it was free because it was hubby's company picnic day.  Unfortunately for us, we started the day with rain, and we ended the day with rain.  The middle four hours we spent the time leisurely floating around the creek and playing in the kid's water park. 

Saturday:

Nature Detectives program.  This weeks theme was old fashioned country ways. 

She went where the program normally is held and there were many craft stations set up.  There were a few people there, but mostly they came and went.  Shayla enjoyed it so much that she made several crafts.  We spent an hour making crafts.

She made a sheep paper bag puppet, a paper butterfly, painted a paper plate watermelon, a bookmark and beaded a bracelet.

Next we went to watch a hard working friend.  We watched her scrubbing rags clean on the washboard and then hanging them out to dry.

Lastly, we watched some ladies churning cream into butter.