Book Reports

Finley has done three book reports lately.I have found the best way to set up her report is to have a section to write about the beginning, then the middle, then the end. This forces her to be more thorough than if I just ask for a general summary. The books she has read for these reports are Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy, Fancy Nancy Sees Stars, and Scooby-Doo and The Whiff of Pizza.

Winter Art

I was on Pinterest and I found a cute craft that was cardinals on tree branches. The craft on pinterest used handprints for the cardinals but I wanted to give the girls a little more freedom to be creative so I just gave them the paint and showed them the picture I saw on pinterest and let them use their imaginations to create a similar picture. I LOVE the way they turned out. I'm pretty sure this turned out to be my favorite art project so far.

Lacys Letter of the Week

I've been slacking on my posts. Last week Lacys letter of the week was I. Her words for the week were iguana, icicle, igloo, and ice cream. She made an ice cream cone for her letter art for the week.

Christmas Painting

Yesterday we took a brain break and painted Christmas trees. We turned on some Christmas music and had a lot of fun. Tanner even got in on the action.

Lacys Letter of the Week

Lacys letter of the week this week was H. her words were hi, house, ham, hat, and heart, she made a house for her letter art this week.

Another Month Down

So we are another month into homeschooling and not only are the girls learning but I'm seriously learning and discovering things during the process as well. I've learned Finley is NOT a fan of history but is a fan of science and she won't complain about science even if her vocabulary words take her forever. I've learned Lacy likes to get her things done quickly unlike Fin who likes lots of breaks. I've also learned as a homeschool mom there could never be too much coffee, half and half, or diet coke. And yes I've learned that sometimes a Little Debbie snack can help everyone's attitudes. Here's our board of projects for November.

Thankful Hearts

For the Thanksgiving season we made a thankful heart for each school day. The girls would tell me what they were thankful for and I would write it down and hang it up for them. It was fun and pretty cute too.

Happy Thanksgiving

This week was very laid back for our homeschool. Monday was a regular day but Tuesday we focused on Thanksgiving. We got our regular math and reading done. We then focused on Thanksgiving. We read a book about Thanksgiving and we completed a turkey craft. The instructions to the craft said it would take 30 minutes. HA! It took all freaking day, literally, time for one math worksheet and one chapter of our Junie B. Jones for reading and then these turkeys. Lord help me. At least they turned out super cute. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We are in Branson, MO for a holiday getaway but we'll  be back at it Monday.

Lacys Letter Of The Week

Lacys letter of the week was F. Her words of the week were Friday, fork, flower,fly, and fish. She made a fish for her letter art.

History Report - John Adams

Finley read and completed a report on John Adams. I love her reports because it is so interesting to see what she takes away from what I read versus what I take away from it.

The trouble with B and D

Finley has been having some issues lately writing her small b and d the correct way. She gets the spellings write but gets those two letters confused. I saw this on pinterest and had her do it. We taped it to the counter next to where she works and it's been a big help.

Lacys letter of the Week

Lacys letter of the week last week last week was E. Her words of the week were eat, eagle,eye,elk, and egg. She made a giant eye for her letter art.

Election Day Learning

On Election Day, I had a full day of election/USA focused activities. My husband and I had both voted early so we didn't actually have to go to a polling location on election day. I searched through our worksheets and found one that focused on election day info. We made handprint eagles. We made shadow profiles and then I interviewed the girls about what they would do if they were President. We also made voter registration cards. We usually do our work in the basement, but for  election day, I allowed the girls to do their work in front of the tv while watching the news. Finley impressed us and stayed up and watched the election all the way through.

Book Report

Finley read her first American Girl book. It was Brave Emily. This book was a little advanced for Finley but she made it through and I'm proud of her progress.

Corn Activity

I bought these corn bead activity kits at Michael's and wanted to save them for November. They turned out to be a better learning activity for Lacy. We counted, created patterns, and it was a good hand-eye coordination project for her.

Lacys Letter Of The Week

Lacys letter of the week this week was D. her words were dog, doll, duck, donut, deer. She made a donut with sprinkles for her letter art.

October Review

We did A LOT during our first month of homeschool. I've learned that you absolutely have to be a "go with the flow" type of personality. Some days we get a lot done and some days we don't get as much done and I have to be fine with that. We are learning every day and I stand firm in my belief that even on the days we don't do as much we are still getting the same amount done they would do in a brick and mortar school because we don't stand in lines or wait for other kids, it's just us. I am truly enjoying doing this for my kids and I so enjoy our time together. Here's a small snap shot of what we did this month:

 ...a few projects, work we are proud of, our finds from nature walks, and even an ocean in a bottle!

Happy Halloween

We had a very fun homeschooled Halloween. We went through our normal morning but had a very fun Halloween focused afternoon ...we started with painting spiders, made mummy dogs for lunch, then made some bats. We finished our school day by reading a fun Halloween Amelia Bedelia. Halloween night we took full advantage of being a homeschool family and didn't feel the need to rush trick or treating because it was a school night which was awesome.

Science Experiment

I was on Pinterest looking at just about everything under the sun and I saw that you could grow celery from old celery. I showed Finley and seeing we had celery in the fridge, we decided to do it. We put the bottom in water and put it in a sunny spot in the kitchen. I had Finley take pictures of the process and after two weeks we put our project together. Turns out you can grow celery from celery. We really enjoyed this fun project and we grew some celery too.

Name Art

Last week for art day we did name art. it was quick and easy and a great way to use up a lot of the scrap paper I had lying around.

Lacys Letter Of The Week

Lacys letter of the week this week is C. Her words this week were cat, cow, crab, cloud, and cake. she used the word cloud for her letter art.

History Report - Abigail Adams

Finley and I read the book Abigail Adams In Her Own Words by Blair Belton. We read a few pages a day and wrote a sentance about what we learned. When she finished the book she rewrote all her sentances on construction paper and made a book of her own for her history report.

Bible Verse Art

John 15:1
I am the vine and my father is the gardener.

Field Trip Friday

Today is field trip Friday so we headed out to Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead, which is a local children's farm. There are goats, chickens, cows, and pigs. The kids can mine stones, fish, bottle feed baby goats, go on a pony ride, and wagon rides. I usually don't, but today I purchased the family fun pack. Each girl got to pick two activities and we all went on the wagon ride. Finley chose mining and fishing. Lacy chose baby goats and a pony ride. Then we all rode the wagon together. We had a picnic lunch and a lot of fun. We then came home for journal work, math, and a spelling test.

Bible Book

Lacy has a children's bible book. Yesterday we started the Story of Creation. She had gone over this before in her church preschool so it was a review. She then completed a craft. She decorated a number 1 - 6 according to what was created that day. It took her quite a bit of time but she really enjoyed doing it.

Lacys Letter of The Week

Lacys letter of the week is B. She has practiced big and little b's. Her words this week are boat, bear, big, bug, and ball. For her letter art today she completed a boat.

Butterflies

Finley had a worksheet on butterflies. Both girls were needing a brain break so we did a quick art project. We made some toilet paper roll butterflies. They were quick and easy and the girls got a fun little break while I fed the baby.

Weather Art

To keep in coordination with our weather unit, Friday we did a cloud art. Both girls completed this project. They cut their own clouds, glued cotton balls to their clouds, then gave their clouds a face. They then cut their own raindrops. Together, we glued string to the raindrops and connected them to their clouds. They dried all weekend, because the girls used quite a bit of glue. They turned out great.

Lacys Letter Of The Week

Lacys letter of the week this week was the letter A. She worked all week on perfecting the letter. She worked on the words, apple, ant, arm, air, and alligator. We used apple for our letter art.

Time Unit

We are getting to the end of our time unit. Yesterday, instead of a worksheet on time, we did a poster. Finley really enjoyed it.

Weather Unit

We are currently working on a weather unit. We have a weather log we complete every morning. We've practiced our tornado drills. We have a few experiments we are monitoring. Today I decided to take an old saying and make it into a quick art project. We used the saying "Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning." Finley had a fun time doing this and it was a good fun brain break for her.