Sonlight Core K Week 2

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!

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?

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!!!!!!!!

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!

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

• 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

I have a photo printer at home, so any of the "big" projects like the fossils and the egg, I printed small pictures for them to include in their lapbook as well.

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.





 

Homeschool Beginnings.....

After much prayer and discussion we have decided to homeschool. I am very excited about the curriculum I have picked out. We chose to use Sonlight Core K and supplement with additional activities to extend the core out. After searching and searching and searching for a website that had supplements to Sonlight Core K with no avail (I did find a couple, but they were not what I was looking for) I decided to take the plunge and use resources from all over and do it myself. So, along with our normal crafty posts (which have been severely lacking lately-sorry) I will be posting our homeschool adventures in hopes that it might help someone else as well! I hope that anyone who is considering homeschooling, who is currently homeschooling with another curriculum, or who is using the Core K will enjoy what we are doing and give me feedback and ideas as well!

Allowance and Banks

A few years ago hubby and I were sitting around discussing our kids and how we wanted to teach them about the value of money. We completely agree with the idea of a reasonable allowance to teach them some basic money skills. As the kids get older they tend to ask more and more for "things". I can not count on both hands how many times I have been asked to purchase something with which my answer has been "No, I don't have any money", with a response from Aiden "Well, use your debit card!". This is NOT how I want my kids to think about spending and the use of money. I only wish my debit card was that magic!

A while ago I saw this bank that I just thought was PERFECT for teaching them some very basic money skills. It had 3 sections, one for saving, one spending, and one giving. I was excited! I just knew this would be a great idea for our little beginners! Well, when we decided to start I ran off to this particular store to purchase one of those banks, and came back empty handed. They did in fact still carry it, but being the frugal mommy I am, could not in my right mind imagine paying the $20.00 they were selling it for! Especially since the little stickers were barely hanging on by a thread. I could make something with the supplies I had on hand and it be MUCH cuter! At this point, just imagine the eye rolling from hubby that ensued! I was on a mission!

The first thing I needed was a template. You would think a simple house template would be easy to find with an Internet search, well not as easy as I thought, so I came up with one of my own. I had big ambitions at first of this cute little chimney on top of each house, but I quickly decided these houses did not need a chimney. You can add that if you wish =) I printed this at 120% on my printer so that it just fit on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper.

Cut out your template and then cut each individual piece onto a sheet of chipboard.

Enlist a little help from your children at this point. Mine are always eager to get a little messy with mommy! I use Aleene's Tacky Glue on EVERYTHING! The kids went hard to work dabbing a little glue (or a lot in their case) onto each chipboard shape. Just an FYI that it took me a long time to figure out- I used to purchase this glue at my local scrapbook store, or box chain like HL or Michaels until I found the giant bottle at Walmart for less than half the price! I will never buy it anywhere else again.

Please don't judge the messy house in the background!

Place each chipboard piece down on the BACK of your favorite piece of scrapbook paper. If your paper has a design you want to face in a certain direction, now is the time to check your positioning!

Using your scissors, cut each piece out. I don't worry too much about perfection at this point. Sandpaper does wonders for rough edges and gives it a little character!

I do, however, like to ink the edges of most everything. I think it gives it a finished look that makes the piece pop. I prefer the tiny Cat's Eye ink pads, they are inexpensive and can be purchased in many colors.

Now, I don't have any pictures of the next step, but I think it is pretty self explanatory. On one of your ROOF pieces, cut a rectangle with your exacto knife large enough to "deposit" and remove your money. I started to try to rig up some type of removable bottom, but figured since this was going to be handled by my children, it needed to have as few removable pieces as necessary.

Use your Aleene's glue on each edge of the chipboard and press them together. You only have to hold it for a couple minutes before the glue dries enough for you to move on to the next piece.

Decorate it with any embellishments or stickers you have on hand, and here you go!

Aren't those tiny clothes pins the most darling thing you've ever seen? I LOVE them!

Painting and Glazing Furniture

If you have never visited the blog All Things Thrifty, you need to! The have the most amazing ideas for home accesories and decor. One of the things Brooke "specializes" in is revamping old furniture. After spending more time than I should have drooling over the projects she has completed, I decided to take a stab at it myself. I have to say, becuase this was my first time, I did learn a few things along the way. While I am happy with the finished project, I will still do some of the things I did differently the next time. Yes-I did say next time, I know my hubby is just cringing when I say that!

We have had this entertainment center since we got married and moved into our first home. The previous owners did not need it and left in in the house when we bought it. It is a great entertainment center, but since I am in the mood to just totally redo the decor in my home, it was my first victim! It helped to convince hubby to let me try something completely new becuase he *thinks* he is going to be getting a new tv soon and we will be getting rid of this all together then anyway.

So, here she is. I did forget to take the picture before we took off all of the doors. Please ignore the mess!

I followed the directions from All Things Thrifty and primed it with Kiltz spay primer. Lesson #1: Purchase way more primer then you think you need! I originally bought 2 cans, and then mid project rushed back to Walmart and bought 3 more!

Then I sprayed on the paint I purchased. It was a slate grey color that I thought would go well with our living room decor. Lesson #2: You definatly need more paint then you think! I used 6 cans.

After the paint dryed is where things got sticky. Even though I read and reread the directions to glaze, it just didnt turn out like I expected. I am wondering now if I either 1 was not doing it correctly or 2 it just wasnt the right type of furniture for what I was trying to do. But, overall the mocha glaze did give it some brown undertones and really gave it some character.

Her eis the finished project. I really dont think this picture is good-it doesnt really do it justice at all. And, I wish I would have thought to take it BEFORE hubby put the tv back in . I'm not really sure what that brown stripe at the top inside is. When I saw this picture I immediatly ran in the living room to make sure I didnt miss an entire piece at the top, but I didnt. WEIRD!

Here is the before and after: