Thursday, April 17th "Half" Day

So one of the biggest arguments against homeschooling is the "lack of socialization" that kids get. Well, today we proved that wrong! We probably had a little TOO MUCH socialization :/ . We actually didn't get to a specific reading, writing, or science lesson today. WHOOPS!

Here's what we DID get done...

Connor's first piano lesson!! Thanks Alaina!

Where are the states? He's doing really well!

Amelia's first attempt at scissors. Scary!

Connor taking his chapters 1 & 2 test. He only got 1 wrong. Way to go!!!

"Mommy and the Beanstalk" By Connor Rice

Last week I posted about a story Connor had written, but I kept forgetting to bring his notebook with me to the library so that I could type it on the blog. Well, without further ado...

"Mommy and the Beanstalk"

   Once upon a time there were two people named Connor and Amelia. They loved their rabbit named Luna. And one day Momma gave Luna away for five magic apples. And then she planted the magic apples. And then it grew into an applestalk. Then momma climbed up the beanstalk (not a typo) with everbody. With everybody we found a giant fish. And it had Papaw's gold and Mimi got the gold back. Then they killed the fish giant. Then they lived happily ever after.

The End

Wednesday, April 17th "Experiment FAIL!"

I had Connor take a chapter test in math and he got a 100%! So excited for him. Tomorrow I will give him a chapter 1 and 2 review test. Moving along and building up his portfolio!

We went to the library again today for story time. Here is Amelia doing her little "Hokey Pokey" dance:

So in science I tried to do another magnet experiment, but this one didn't work AT ALL! BOO! I think I have to get a different magnet, so we are going to try again another day. Poor Connor was pretty dejected.

In art we sculpted shapes out of our modeling clay and we talked about what it means for something to be 2-dimensional verses 3-dimensional.

I know, not very many pictures today, but I was really tired and so we moved through our subjects really slowly. But when I got up this morning, Connor informed me that he had already gotten dressed, made his bed and brushed his teeth. He absolutely LOVES homeschooling. It is so much fun for all of us. For the first time, I feel like a REAL mom. I am 100% in charge of teaching my kids and I take the responsibility very seriously.

On a side note....I met two more homeschooling moms today at the library. It is like an underground club you didn't know existed, but once you become a part of it, you can pick out the other members in an instant. What an amazing network!

Tuesday, April 16th- "Magnetism" continued...

I promise we do other things besides science in our homeschool lessons...

But for today's experiment, the kids put on a "puppet" show using magnets, paper dolls and a shoebox.

I also worked with Connor on sentences today, helping him to understand that capital letters are special. You don't have to use them with every word :)

For Spanish we played a memory/matching game. He's doing really well with his colors.

For social studies, we are still practicing our "United States" song and learning where all of the states in the United States are. Our goal is to have the song memorized by the time my mom comes into town on Saturday so that the kids can sing it to her. I can't wait to post the video of that one!

Another SUPER cool thing we got to look at today was a hornet's nest that Jason pulled out of our bird feeder. What was particularly awesome about it was that it still had the larvae inside. So, too bad for the larvae, but we enjoyed dissecting it! Check out our pictures...

If you look closely at the larva in the middle, you can see the eyes are already formed. It was the one that looked the most like a hornet.

In this picture, you can actually see the various stages of larvae. The two on the bottom are much less developed than the ones above them. The one at the very top had two eyes forming. You can already see the body formation in the upper right larva. Close up, you could see its wings starting to form along with little legs. All in all, pretty cool!

Monday, April 15th- "Magnetism"

On Sunday morning before church, Connor discovered that magnets can stick to things. Aiming to capitalize on his excitement for the new said discovery, I decided we would study magnets this week in science.

(Our supplies)

(She might not like everything we do, but Amelia NEVER misses a day of science experiments!)

Look at that face! Is it any wonder why I LOVE homeschooling? Look what I would be missing out on every day!

We worked on colors some more in Spanish and I had him complete a timeline for the Book of Mormon stories we've read so far. Believe it or not, creating and understanding the use of timelines is one of his kindergarten benchmarks.

But the special treat of the day was for Family Home Evening. The library held an event called, "Wonders of Nature," and we had front-row seats! There are a lot of videos below, so since I know all of you missed it, you can enjoy our fun!

When I said front-row seats, I meant it. Here is Jason and I almost getting attacked by a hawk. The presenter actually joked that Jason would be getting a new hair style that night!

(Opossum)

Flying squirrel! Except it doesn't fly, it glides. So really it should be called a "gliding squirrel."

(At least that is what we were told ;) )

I can't remember which type of bird these are, but they were pretty smart. He had them trained to wait until he told them to fly to him and then they opened their cage and away they went. Wish I had my children so well trained :p

What WAS awesome about these birds was that the presenter talked about camouflage- a term we had discussed JUST that afternoon when we read a book about Tiger Sharks. Once again, accidental reinforcement of a concept!

This next sequence of videos is SO awesome! This parrot was so cool!

Then there was the squirrel...our presenter's favorite animal. I wish Papa had been there to set this guy straight!

And then there was this crazy bird...

Connor's favorite part was the talking parrot. Amelia's favorite part was the Flying Squirrel. I think Jason's favorite part was leaving with all of his hair!

'

Friday, April 12th

We had sort of a low-key learning day today. Of course, I say that, but I'm pretty sure Connor wouldn't say the same thing. He worked really hard today on breaking down wholes twice. Poor guy. It really is a pretty difficult concept for him. So I introduced the "thinking cap" to him. Now he asks to wear it every time I ask him a question.

So here he is trying to break down whole numbers:

Can't  you tell just how excited he was to do this exercise :) I'm telling you...pure torture! Later in the day I had him practice a couple more and he got them. He is such a smart kid!


The library had a "Motion Commotion" activity today. It's really more for Amelia's age group, but Connor partially participated. Here's Amelia doing "I'm a Little Teapot."

After viewing our attempts at the parachute experiment, my sister suggested that we launch them off of our staircase. This worked SO much better! We talked about gravity some more and experiment with throwing the dough off the staircase without the parachute. Boy did it flatten!

We ended the day with some painting. They are becoming quite the little artists!

Another Day in Paradise

Boy did I wake up on the WRONG side of the bed this morning! But, like Connor yesterday, I had to tell myself to put on my big girl panties and get going!

I absolutely kicked Connor's butt in math today. He is really having a difficult time with parts and wholes. He wants to use his fingers even though he has pasta pieces in front of him. He just doesn't see that no matter how you split up the pieces, they will always equal the whole. We'll be practicing this a lot more.

We continued with our study of air today by making parachutes.

Question: What makes a parachute float?

Hypothesis: The wind.

First we collected our materials.

Then we designed our parachutes.

Then we made little clay men and attached them to our parachutes.

Then it was time to go outside and try out our experiment:

(You can tell by the sound of my voice that I was just not into this today.)

Results: Our hypothesis was SORT OF correct. It was air pushing against the inside of our parachute that helps it to float.

So we tried it again in the house:

But we didn't stop there. We talked about how gravity works on an object and used a balled up piece of clay to show what happens when it is dropped at various heights. The kids enjoyed watching it get flattened!

For Spanish I had Connor label index cards with the names of the colors and tape them to corresponding-colored items in the living room.

Since I wasn't having a super day, we read books together for reading and read scriptures. We worked on directions (north, south, east, west) for social studies and identified the states that our relatives live in. I have started teaching them "The United States" song so that will be fun to record and post :)

I am continually amazed at how many times I hear Connor ask, "Is it time for homeschool yet?" or "Is it 9:00 yet?" He can't wait to get going and learn. It is just so fun for us. The learning never really ends because there are constant questions and explorations to be made. I'm rightfully exhausted, (as I haven't built up my teaching stamina again yet) but it is so worth it!

Legal Torture

Ok- so we all know it was bound to happen sooner or later. Well, apparently it was sooner than later. All of you fellow homeschooling moms know what I'm about to say. I became the "mean" mom today. Here is just a taste of some of the things Connor told me this morning:

"I can't do this!"
"We never did anything this hard in school!"
"I don't want to do this!"

So what did I do? I told him to put on his big boy panties and get going. And then I took out the camera and tried to record his complaints :)

So after this "happy" meltdown, (it was only about 5 minutes, but it allowed me to throw in a load of laundry) we got back to what we needed to do. Here was the finished project:

Yeah, that's right. I asked him to color a picture and then label the colors in Spanish. (The answer key for all of the colors was on the BACKSIDE of the paper!) How could I ever be so mean?

So it was this morning that I realized another of the many benefits of homeschooling. Literally it is one of the only legal forms of torture for parents. Think about it: the state REQUIRES that my kids get an education. I get to decide what form it takes ;)

But alas, we had a great day, albeit, it was a LONG day.

In math, Connor worked on parts and wholes some more. This time he had to split wholes into three parts. It was a pretty tough concept but he ended up getting it and doing it all by HIMSELF. One of the other awesome things about homeschooling is you will always know when your kid actually understands a concept. There isn't any cheating or waiting for some other kid in class to give the answer.  YOU'RE IT BABY!

Amelia didn't have a great day this morning. She tried finding squares around the room. Here's how far she got:

And then she gave up and moved on to something else :)

We got scripture study in just before heading out to story time at the library. Here's a little taste of Amelia "getting jiggy with it:"

We spent the afternoon putting together this United States map puzzle:

I'm going to use it for the next few weeks as we study the United States and learn about maps and direction. Here's the finished product (all 60 pieces put together by my little man):

The BEST part about this lesson: we got to talk about parts and wholes again! I love it when an unplanned lesson just falls into your lap! Connor got to see that many times, the concepts we study are cross-curricular.

The kids expressed interest in writing a story today. So we did a little planning using yesterday's lesson focus:

Connor dictated it to me (while Amelia protested the course of events and characters). I'll have to post the finished product tomorrow because I forgot to bring it with me so I could copy it. But here was the final board outline:

As you can see, quite a bit got changed from the original concept. But I explained to Connor that that is OK. Writers have to edit and change things when needed or wanted. He told me they learned about reading everything twice in school.

We finished the day off with soccer practice. Connor LOVES it so much! His first game is on Saturday. Can't wait!

 (That's him in red playing goalie)

So as Ms. Scarlet would say, "Tomorrow is another day!"

Tuesday, April 9th

Our first field trip with the Southshore Homeschool Coop!

MIXON FARMS

Bradenton, FL

The tour consists of a tram ride through part of the orchard and a stop at the animal sanctuary.

 Our group filled up an entire front portion of the tram. 

I don't remember the name of this fruit, but it is named for it's "hand-like" look. Connor said he remembers they said it tastes like candy.

A skunk. (Maybe like the one my mom had growing up? ;)

One of the four Pythons they have on the premises. They rescue these from people who owned them but don't want them anymore. Our guide told us this snake is very friendly and docile, but that he has hunted them in the wild and they are pretty aggressive. 

Super giant iguana they "accidentally" rescued. They got a call from a church on Long Boat Key that said they had this iguana living there and they didn't know where it came from. So the guys went out and got it. They noticed he seemed really friendly like he had been kept as a pet. One of the workers saw him when they brought him in and said, "Wow. That looks just like my pet iguana." Apparently he had been keeping it at the church and the church owners didn't know where it had come from. 

His skin felt kind of like a soft rubber. Not like I expected at all.

Tortoise.

Amelia said his shell felt soft. I think we need to work on describing what things feel like.

Sand Hill Crane. This one won't be able to be released back into the wild because her wing was broken and she will never be able to fly again. These birds mate for life, though, so they are waiting until they find another crane that can't be released to see if they take a liking to each other.

Parrot.

Another parrot. This one climbing sideways.

Super cool alligator head. That funky looking contraption next to it is some sort of catching device.

Can you spy with your little eye two Great Horned Owls?

Full grown Screech Owl.

Typical Amelia picture. She later told me that she didn't like "the guy" (our guide).

This bird was the original national bird of Mexico. I can't remember what it's called though.
(I think it is a Caracara.)

Feeding the Koi.

Side note: Amelia thought the fish food was regular food. She told me, "It tastes gross."

We finished the day off with some free orange and vanilla ice cream cones. Amelia of course wanted the flavors swirled, but then didn't like it so she ate my vanilla. I got the swirl. Not a fan. Just saying.

One of the biggest arguments I hear about homeschooling is the lack of socialization. But just to put it in perspective, our group had over twenty children attend this field trip. Not everyone could attend and our group is smaller than the more than a dozen others you can find around the Tampa Bay area alone. Connor's new friend is named Caden. He wore a Mario Brothers tee shirt. He's super cool.

I told Jason last night as we were getting ready to retire for the evening that homeschooling is one of the best decisions we have made for our family. It has completely changed our family dynamic. We are so much more focused on learning. We watch WAY less television. We have been making more homemade foods from scratch. There is less stress and rushing around. We are saving gas. We are growing closer. The kids now ask to paint or ride their bikes or play soccer or work on Spanish instead of playing with electronics or watching television. It is truly remarkable and I hope it continues. I am so grateful that we followed the prompting of the Spirit, even though we had no idea why the prompting had come. We are better for it.

Monday, April 8th

What a packed day we had today!

Connor worked on adding numbers together today. He couldn't quite understand how to come up with multiple parts to equal the whole so I broke out the mini white board and some pasta noodles so that it would be easier for him to visualize. Worked like a charm!

Meanwhile, I tried having Amelia work on patterns. That's a tough concept! So after we worked on that (for about two minutes) I had her look for shapes around the room. We used just the circles for this activity today. She LOVED it! Here's a picture of her running around the room looking for circles:

I told her we would do squares the next time ;)

So then it was on to science...

We reviewed the scientific method before starting our next experiment. Today we studied air. 

Question: Can we catch air?

Hypothesis: We can't catch air.

Experiment: 

1. We collected all of our materials:

2. We filled the bowl with 3 inches of water

3. We crumpled the paper towel up and placed it in the bottom of the cup

4. We flipped the cup upside down and forced it into the water:

5. When we pulled out the cup, the paper towel was still dry (I completely spaced taking a picture of the dry paper towel- but trust me, it works!)

6. Our HYPOTHESIS was wrong :( We CAN catch air.

So we tried it again with another experiment:

This time we tried to catch air in plastic bags. 

Hypothesis: We CAN catch air.

This time our hypothesis was CORRECT! We CAN catch air!

Why? Because air is everywhere! It fills up empty spaces.

For Spanish we moved away from numbers and on to colors. I just had Connor label colors in Spanish on a piece of paper. Amelia practiced too.

It was sunny today, so you know what that means: SOCCER! Connor has a pretty good goalie throw. I taught him how to pass while dribbling up the field.

For reading we read "The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin" by Beatrix Potter and identified the setting and characters of the story. Connor also wrote a summary in his narration journal.

We were so busy reading that we just moved right onto art:

But the day didn't end there. I am taking advantage of all of the AWESOME classes for kids they offer at our local library. So Connor got to participate in "Crafternoon."

Connor made a pinwheel flower and a "stained glass" butterfly. I am really impressed how much his cutting ability has improved since VPK. My little man is getting so big! I'm grateful for these precious moments we get to share together!