Ok, so I know I am a little late posting our week 2 projects. I honestly did not do hardly any school with the kids at all last week due to some issues we had going on here at our house. But, I guess better late than never =)
If you are doing the 5 day a week curriculum, you have reading scheduled on Day 5 of science on the topic of Frogs for the next several weeks. I personally did not think the kids would remember that much just reading a couple of pages one day a week for several weeks, so we turned the entire Frog theme into a lapbook.
I am always amazed at how much I learn right along with the kids! Did you know that the smallest frog is about the size of your finger nail, while the biggest is the size of a cat! Really? If I met that from on a dark night I think I would have a heart attack!
Extra Books:
Frogs By Gail Gibbons
Growing Frogs By Vivian French
The Frog Prince
Lapbook Compnents:
-og words from Homeschool Share
5 Green Speckled Frogs Poem from Homeschool Share
Frog Life Cycle
Frog Prince Coloring Page
Other Activities:
Watched the Princess and the Frog movie
Grow a Frog- I really wanted to do this, but just did not want to spend the money to purchase a kit. We have many ponds in our area were you can catch tadpoles when it is warmer, so we might come back to this later.
Frog Tracker The kids loved this and even insited on calling Daddy to let him hear their new "croak" music!
We skipped the Living Long Ago and the Children's Encyclopedia reading on Ancient Egypt this week and will encorporate that with some extra activities into next week.
Stay tuned for Valentine activities next week as we explore a little on this holiday!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
How Could I Forget?
I was looking through some pictures this morning and realized I had forgot to post one of the projects I made for Kylie for Christmas this year. It was a huge hit thanks to Ana White! I dont know how I did not know about her site. When I first found it I was in awe, I spent WAY too much time on there drooling over WAY to many projects. Since Kylie was asking for a big girl doll I knew this doll bed would be the perfect accompianment!
This was my very first time to build anything from wood, and I can tell you the plans were very easy to follow. This inspired me to build MANY more projects. The nice man at Home Depot cut most of the boards for me as I did not have a saw of my own and I went to work.
The mattress was cut from a piece of foam I bought from Hobby Lobby. I made a fitted sheet, pillows, and blanket.
AND....guess what I got for Christmas after this beauty was made? I got my very own Circular saw and Jigsaw. Hubby is scared to death I might loose a finger-let's pray that never happens! Now, how do I narrow down which project to build next? Should I dive right into the Playhouse Loft Bed for Kylie's room and to complete the room Dress Up Storage, Grace's Town, and Kitchen? Or start with something a little smaller like the Corner Cupboard, or the Locker Cabinet?
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Inexpensive Wall Art
I have a huge empty space on one of the walls in my living room that I have been looking for the perfect art for. Well, I came to the conclusion that I just couldn't afford a large enough piece of art for that space. SO, I came up with something else. Now, this is not my idea, it is all over the blogosphere, but I did make it my own by adding pictures of my kids and some "family rules". I did not include step by step pictures because it is SO easy!
Here's what you do:
I purchased a piece of plywood and cut it into 9 12x12 squares (your local hardware store might even do this for you if you ask nicely!)
I painted the edges of my plywood squares with a chestnut spray paint, I have also seen this done with ribbon.
Use a spray adhesive to adhere a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper to each square. I tried to use modge podge at first but it bubbled and I wasnt happy! On 3 of the squares I had 2 of my favorite pictures blown up to 12x12 and a Subway Art file I got from Sassy Sanctuary.
Attach pictures hangers to the back and VIOLA! Instant and CHEAP wall art! I have to say...it looks GAWGEOUS!!!!!!!!
Here's what you do:
I purchased a piece of plywood and cut it into 9 12x12 squares (your local hardware store might even do this for you if you ask nicely!)
I painted the edges of my plywood squares with a chestnut spray paint, I have also seen this done with ribbon.
Use a spray adhesive to adhere a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper to each square. I tried to use modge podge at first but it bubbled and I wasnt happy! On 3 of the squares I had 2 of my favorite pictures blown up to 12x12 and a Subway Art file I got from Sassy Sanctuary.
Attach pictures hangers to the back and VIOLA! Instant and CHEAP wall art! I have to say...it looks GAWGEOUS!!!!!!!!
Now, when hubby gets home he can see just what I was trying to explain to him. He asked me over and over why I was hanging squares of plywood on the wall. You would think after all this time being married to me he would learn!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Sonlight Core K Week 1
As soon as our box from Sonlight arrived the kids were begging to get started. We really enjoyed our first week of homeschool!
Supplementing with the curriculum this week, to go along with the Usborne Children's Encyclopedia reading on dinosaurs, we will be completing a small unit study to extend more on that topic. I borrowed some of the ideas from Homeschool Share and Enchanted Learning to complete a lapbook on Dinosaurs. While I am on the topic of Enchanted Learning, this is a subscription site. I debated over and over again on paying the fee to join ($20) because of the wealth of information you can find for free online, but the more I searched the more I decided that this site is well worth the $20 subscription fee. They offer a ton of materials for homeschoolers and teachers alike.
Books Used
If the Dinosaurs Came Back by Bernard Most
Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones by Byron Barton
Raising Dragons by Jerdine Nolen
Dinosaurumpus! by Tony Mitton
The Magic Schoolbus In the Times of Dinosaurs
Homeschool Share recommends the book What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs by John Morris and Ken Ham, I just want to add here that I did check this book out at the library and was very disappointed. Not only was it confusing for the kids to understand, I didn't understand much of it either. It contradicted what we had read in the Usborne Encyclopedia and it talked a lot about Evolution and how the dinosaurs lived over 100 million years ago. After reading just a couple of pages, we decided to skip it all together.
This was our first lapbook experience, and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. It was really great how they were able to share what they learned with Daddy afterwards.
Materials Included
And here are the pictures of our completed lapbooks
Also, beginning this week, we will start collection items to make a Diorama of the Boxcar Children later. As we read the book we will note things they had in the boxcar and what the area around them was like. We also have The Boxcar Children Cookbook and will be making some of the recipes as we come upon the different foods they ate in the book.
For Science, we were very lucky that the Lunar Eclipse happened around the same time we read about the Earth's rotation, we viewed a video of that Here on the NASA website.
Supplementing with the curriculum this week, to go along with the Usborne Children's Encyclopedia reading on dinosaurs, we will be completing a small unit study to extend more on that topic. I borrowed some of the ideas from Homeschool Share and Enchanted Learning to complete a lapbook on Dinosaurs. While I am on the topic of Enchanted Learning, this is a subscription site. I debated over and over again on paying the fee to join ($20) because of the wealth of information you can find for free online, but the more I searched the more I decided that this site is well worth the $20 subscription fee. They offer a ton of materials for homeschoolers and teachers alike.
Books Used
If the Dinosaurs Came Back by Bernard Most
Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones by Byron Barton
Raising Dragons by Jerdine Nolen
Dinosaurumpus! by Tony Mitton
The Magic Schoolbus In the Times of Dinosaurs
Homeschool Share recommends the book What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs by John Morris and Ken Ham, I just want to add here that I did check this book out at the library and was very disappointed. Not only was it confusing for the kids to understand, I didn't understand much of it either. It contradicted what we had read in the Usborne Encyclopedia and it talked a lot about Evolution and how the dinosaurs lived over 100 million years ago. After reading just a couple of pages, we decided to skip it all together.
This was our first lapbook experience, and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. It was really great how they were able to share what they learned with Daddy afterwards.
Materials Included
- Read the creation account in Genesis 1:1-31. List what God made on each day and determine what day God made dinosaurs. Flip Flap Book
- Discuss Paleontology and completed large dinosaur puzzle after going on a "hunt" for the pieces. Paleontologist matchbook.
- Make a paper mache Dinosaur egg and then hatch it later (mommy snuck in a toy dinosaur when they werent looking)
- Discuss dragons and dinosaurs. How do the "dragons" in this story seem like dinosaurs?
- Dinosaur Book We colored the pictures on the first page and cut them all out to make our cover, then discussed and colored the other sheets to include in the lapbook.
- Dinosaur Pop Up Book
And here are the pictures of our completed lapbooks
Also, beginning this week, we will start collection items to make a Diorama of the Boxcar Children later. As we read the book we will note things they had in the boxcar and what the area around them was like. We also have The Boxcar Children Cookbook and will be making some of the recipes as we come upon the different foods they ate in the book.
For Science, we were very lucky that the Lunar Eclipse happened around the same time we read about the Earth's rotation, we viewed a video of that Here on the NASA website.
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