Thursday, April 28, 2011

Home Journal - Bo School

I thought about titling this post "Tot School", but that really didn't seem to do justice to what this boy gets into learns about in any given day. 

This is a rare moment when he does actually look studious. It's a book about birds in our state and he didn't even rip any pages.

After this picture we discussed the importance of protective eye-wear when using heavy equipment.

He learned a long time ago that being outside is fun!

So is getting yogurt all over your face and arms. It's even more fun when you get it all over the table, chair and floor. He's also discovered that Mommy doesn't get angry if he smiles and laughs while he's doing said experiments.

He's learned that markers are yummy to eat. You can suck the juice out of them just like a straw!

Bo also learned that rice is a great medium for digging in, but it also works well as an area rug for the front porch.

What did you learn today?  


Wednesday, April 27, 2011

School Journal - Australia, New Zealand and Marshmallows


Yes...it's been a few weeks and even fewer pictures, but we really have been studying Oceania. We did the usual map and flag coloring and we did a topo map of Australia. We also read some fun stories from  Aboriginal legends. E is still reading Nim's Island - a fun read about a girl trapped on an island. We also created dot painting similar to some Aboriginal paintings. The boys both painted eels (have no idea why except that they wanted to) and E painted a fish. Betty painted a rainbow. L was the only one who didn't really enjoy doing the painting. Usually he likes to paint, but I guess the dot work with a Q-tip is more tedious for him.



I even let the little man try his hand at dot painting. Do-a-dot that is! He did pretty good for about 5 minutes then he started trying to eat it and then got mad when I would take it away and started throwing them. But at least he was confined for a time. :)


Mr. Z started his All About Spelling program without even throwing his tiles! He doesn't like to put them in ABC order though. Boring, you know. (Yes, I know.)


We're still enjoying the R.E.A.L. Science Chemistry that we're doing. The boys really got a kick out of the expanding marshmallow experiment. You're supposed to put a marshmallow in the oven at 500 degrees and then let it cook for 10 minutes to show how the air makes the marshmallow expand. It got to where the boys would be doing a rocket launch coutdown every minute to record the expanding marshmallow on their lab sheet. What a hoot!

Lab sheet.

New marshmallow.

Marshmallow after 10 minutes in the oven. Nice, huh?

Good times! They had to tell Daddy all about that one when he got home.








Saturday, April 23, 2011

Home Journal - Easter Blessing

Last week our small group had a Passover Seder with a Messianic Jewish family. We thoroughly enjoyed their insight into our Savior's last meal before the cross. One of the things that they mentioned was that when the meal is over, the father says a traditional blessing on the family from Numbers 6. I'd like to bless you all with the same blessing.
"The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace."

Happy Easter!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

School Journal - PreSchool Catch-up

Not that you have to catch-up when you're doing preschool, but I'm just going to catch you up on what we have been doing. Although, I don't have too many pictures. Sometimes I'm in the mood to take pics and sometimes I'm too lazy to hunt for the camera. But anyway, Betty has made her way all through the alphabet so far. We just worked on her Letter of the Week stuff from  Confessions of a Homeschooler. She hasn't been too excited about the B4FIAR stuff, so I don't push it. We worked on the letters Rainbow R, Ladybug L, Watermelon W and Nest N. She's really gotten tired of the younger things like the size sequencing and coloring and magnet pages, but she is really enjoying the letter search and the color-by-number pages. She's also loving to do the number trace page.

One week I even taught her how to fix spaghetti, so here she is whipping this batch up from scratch all by herself. :) Okay, Okay...she had a little help from me, but she is an excellent stirrer just like her daddy. I'm so proud!

Nature Study and telling Bo all the finer points of this particular flower. She could tell me the scientific name, but I forgot it. ;)

Here she is offering me one of her most prized specimens. Can you tell she's been into flowers lately. Garden Preschool Pack here we come! 

Big sis, E, put together Betty's rainbow sensory tub complete with blue aquarium rock, feathers, magnet letters in different colors, counting bears, stirring sticks, pipecleaners and a rainbow flower bracelet. I thought E did a good job of coming up with the items to add and I didn't have to do it!

Instead of trudging our way through school during Spring, we're going to be taking three weeks off and then getting back to it in May. Hence the resuming blog posts. I have time to do something else for a second! I'll be going to our homeschool convention and doing some planning during our break and doing some much needed Spring Cleaning around the house.


Sunday, April 17, 2011

Home Journal - Betty Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday Betty-Girl!!!!!


As sweet as she is sassy, she's the girly-girl of the family. Betty enjoys all things pink and purple and sparkle and glitter and shimmer and all those other extravagant things like "Fancy Ancy" aka Fancy Nancy. Hands down the most high maintenance of the family, but also gives such sweet kisses and warm cuddles. She's 4 and loves doing school, writing her name and playing her sister's iTouch. She can be found most days sporting her choice of dress-up dress or leotard, playing with her plethora of jewels and wanting mommy to stop and play "My Dear". She mixes up which one of us plays the mommy and which one plays "My Dear". But it always involves pretending to play tea and naptime.



She got her favorite purple pillow pet for her bday! She's in love with that pet!
Other faves include:

chocolate milk
flank steak
Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom (pronounced Shicka-Shicka-Boom-Boom)
Chicka-Chicka- 1-2-3
 princesses (most fave: Sleeping Beauty because she has a pink dress)
eating a before-bedtime snack
mom sitting on her bed until she falls asleep
being held





That's my girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love ya' sissy!