Random Ramblings

1.  First off, don't hate me.  I forgot to take pictures of our Volcano!!!  I know, I know.  It was really cool though! 

2.  I had a very proud Mom moment this week.  Audrey accidentally broke a neighbor's car window.  That brave little girl, first went and confessed to the owners, then came home and confessed to Mom what she had done.  She was so heartbroken, upset, and embarrassed.  I felt so bad for her.  Since the neighbors only speak spanish we had to wait for Ben to return home to discuss reparations.  I am so proud of her for IMMEDIATELY doing the right thing!!!! 

3.  This was our last week of schooling before our fall break.  We get next week off.  We will use the week to have fun, deep clean, and relax. 

4.  Our General Conference bags were a HUGE hit.  The kids are loving the treats and activities.  I am loving how quiet they are being and how well they are listening to our church leaders.  This will become a new tradition for us. 

5.  I am baby hungry.  I am feeling jealous of all my friends that have just given birth, are about to give birth, or have just announced pregnancies.  I know there is another spirit that will join our family, I just don't know when.  I am anxious for the new little one to bless our family.  God willing, it will be soon. 

That's about it for this session of random ramblings.  Hope you enjoyed it.

Indians, Tornadoes, and Volcanoes....Oh My!

We had a good week, for the most part.  School at home went great, however we have some changes coming.  We received an email this week from our School partner, stating that starting in October homeschoolers will need to submit year long lesson plans for Science, Math, and English for each of their children.  In addition to that, our children would need to take monthly "quizzes" on those subjects to determine if they are "learning enough."  On top of that, every quarter we would be required to submit work samples for those subjects as well.  Needless to say, the cons outweighed the pros for staying in the program so we are pulling out.  Unfortunately, it means the girls will no longer get their once a week "fun classes."  They were involved in the decision and decided on their own that they would rather drop out than complete the new requirements.  It was a sad day, but after much thought, discussion, and prayers we have decided that dropping out is what is best for our family at this time.  Hopefully we will be able to fill the void with homeschool field trips, a recreational class for each child, and a smattering of all the other wonderful homeschool activities and groups going on in our conmmunity.  Enough of that now.....on to happier things!!!

 

This week we studied all of our basics (reading, writing, math, english, ect.).  May I just say that I am very proud of my girls right now.  They each have a challenge to read 100 books (picture books on appropriate levels for each of them) or chapters from an approved book to earn a reward.  Audrey is currently up to 60 books and Marissa is at 51!!!!  This plan is working AMAZINGLY.  Audrey's reading has improved greatly in the last few months.

 

We also had a wonderful time doing our science and history this week.  In History we learned more about Pocahontas and made Indian headdresses.  We also read the book "Sam the Minuteman."  Audrey was enjoying it so much that she took it off on her own on Thursday and read the entire book to herself. 

 



The kids with their Indian Headdresses....I may have cut them a little too small.

 In Science we learned about tornadoes and volcanoes.  We had a great time building our own tornado, swirling it around, and watching it go.  We also began construction on our volcano.  More to come with the volcano next week. 


Our Tornado.  If you look closely at the top water you can see it swirling.

It was a good week overall.  We are excited to make our changes and start with our new plan.  And I promise that my children do not look like such ragamuffins in the mornings.  I don't know what happens to them at lunch time!

What I learned this week

Homeschooling my kids gives me the opportunity to resdiscover lost interests, revel in things I loved as a child (and some that I still love...like science experiments), re-do those subjects I struggled with or did not like as a child, and learn new things alongside my kids.  Here are 3 things I learned this week while teaching my children:
1. The Americas were named after Amerigo Vespucci who was the first person to realize that this mass of land Columbus had found was not Asia, but a completely seperate continent. 
2.  The first hamburger in America was served in Connecticut. 
3.  Coca-cola and Peanut butter were invented in Georgia. 

Did you learn anything new this week?

Weekly Wrap up

Yet another week of school has come to an end.  I am enjoying this year of homeschool SO much.  I think the kids are too. 
This week.....
Breanne created havoc, played some with her busy bags, screamed a lot, learned how to say  or rather YELL "OP!" (Stop), napped, made a lot of messes, and ate snacks.  Pretty normal week for our little toddler.

Trent worked on the letter Cc.  We reinforced the letter name and sound, worked on some worksheets (rhyming, beginning sounds, and abc order), did math (Trent's favorite), and a couple of reading lessons from Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. 

Marissa read a lot of books (she is determined to finish her 100 books before Audrey does), passed off the last of her "black key" piano songs, worked on adding and subtracting (single digits with double digits), learned about reading map keys, and worked on her handwriting.

Audrey read a lot of books (she is determined to finish her 100 books because she REALLY wants fake nails), took her first Math test of the year and (after a few corrections) passed with an 85%, finally passed off the word "giraffe" in spelling, learned how to read a map grid, learned about asking - exclaiming - and commanding sentences, and read from her Book of Mormon reader daily.

In Sciene we learned about the seasons and what causes them.  Each child made a seasons book.  We learned about the water cycle.  We also began talking about weather and made a rain guage.  Both girls predicted that we will have 0cm of rain this coming week.  They will continue to predict and chart our rainfall for the next 4 weeks.   

In History we finished learning about Columbus and learned about Ponce de Leon and how he discovered and named Florida.  Did you know that Florida means "flowers"?  I didn't.  We made old style maps charting Columbus's journey from Europe to America.  Our state for this week was New Jersey.  Did you know that New Jersey is called the garden state because more than half the state is still farms, woods, marshes, beaches and other undeveloped land?  New Jersey also grows 2/3rds of the world's eggplant!!!! 

We had a good week.  3 more weeks to go before our first break!  What did you do this week?

Labor Day Week

This week started off with lots of fun. 
Sunday brought Ben's parents to celebrate Audrey's 9th birthday. 
Monday brought a BBQ with some friends. 
Tuesday brought a homeschool holiday for us, as we celebrated Audrey's 9th Birthday.  My parents came up to join us.

Audrey at her Birthday Party with one of her presents.

Wednesday - Friday brought us back to schooling where we learned about Columbus, made Telescopes, did science experiments, and painted our own planets in addition to math, reading, and writing. 

Trent and his Telescope

Marissa's planet earth

 

What did you do this week? 

Wampum Beads

Today in History we made wampum beads.  Wampum beads were valuable to the Iroquois Indians.  They used them as money, gifts, and messages.  After learning about them, we made ourselves some.  Here are the results.

We made a simple salt clay, rolled the clay into small beads, poked a hole in them with a toothpick, then baked them.  After they cooled down the kids colored them with Sharpies.

Faith in God

I have been asked a few times what Audrey does during her Faith in God time.  This is how we do Faith in God over here.  (I was going to load my checklist, but I can't figure out how to load a document, so you just get an explanation.)

Audrey has a checklist I printed off for her that tells her what to do each day. 

Every day she prays and reads her scriptures.  She grabs the kitchen timer, says her prayers, then sets the timer for 5 minutes to read Scriptures.  I decided this year that she would read from the Scripture Readers. My parents bought these for us a few years back and we use them for our morning devotionals as well.  Audrey wasn't doing so well reading straight from the scriptures, so we're giving this a shot to see if it helps her understand what is going on better.  

After the timer goes off, she sets it again for 5 minutes and does one of the following:
Works on Faith in God Goals, Writes in her S.O.A.P. notebook, works on memorization, or writes in her personal journal.

On Tuesdays she works on Faith in God goals.  For her Goals, she decides what goal she wants to work on and writes the page number down on her sheet (it is in a page protector so she can use a dry erase marker on it).  Then she asks herself some questions:  What do you need to do to accomplish the goal?  Can you do it alone or do you need Mom's help?  How long witll it take to finish?

Wednesdays are for S.O.A.P. Her S.O.A.P. notebook is a place to ponder and study specific scriptures I choose for her.  Again, she sets her timer for 5 minutes and gets to work. 
S is for Scripture:  She reads and copies the scripture I have assigned her for the day.
O is for Observation:  What does this scripture mean?
A is for Application:  How does God want me to apply this scripture to my life today?
P is for Prayer:  Keep a prayer in your heart, asking God to help you apply this scripture to your life today. 

Thursdays are her memorization day.  Currently she is working on the Articles of Faith since she needs to pass those off for her Faith in God award.  When she has passed those off we will start working on other scriptures such as scripture mastery, common verses, verses from her S.O.A.P, ect.

On Fridays she writes in her personal journal.  She can write whatever she wants.  She just has to work for 5 minutes. 

She does not have a Monday assignment because that is her Options day where she is at school all day. 

At the end of each day she is instructed to come talk to me about what she accomplished, what she learned, and what she read about. 

When she turns 12 this box will become her personal progress box.