Homeschool Party at the Lake!

We had our 3rd-5th grade Homeschool "Not Back-to-School Party" at the Lake today! There was a great turn out!

Here are some fun pictures!

Here is my pretty Courtney bear playing in the sand.

Alex is the cannonball champion... even in the lake!

Avery and Alex were checking out the bottom of the lake most of the day.

Sweet little Ashi Bell being shy. She's either 100% all-out, or totally reserved!

Ashlyn Belle and Avi romping in the water.

I almost got drenched here!

Ashi and Avi playing with some homeschool friends!

My Courtney either dug in the sand, or dug for clams! She must have collected 100 clams!

These two are like two peas in a pod!

My gang! It was so peaceful, until...

All the boys arrived! Here is Alex, apparently taking someone down!

Courtney found a cute boy. Watch out, Daddy!

Avery and Ashi playing with their adorable twin friends

Do you see the circle surrounding the boys? They were making some waves, literally!

We had a GREAT time! We're looking forward to a fun 2009-2010 year!

Day 5

A house for Stonewall Jackson

... Before you start to think that I am being responsible and teaching my children a wonderful history lesson in mid-summer, think again. My hubby is a history buff, and we have two Civil War Generals names for our dogs. Our Black/Chocolate Lab is Mosby the Grey Ghost, and our Chihuahua is named Stonewall Jackson. We built Stoney a new dog house for our Day 5 project. He is rather small, and we have large predatorial birds around our hosue, so he has always slept inside, in the mud room. But I wasn't happy with the way the room looks with his bed on the floor. Also, the dog items took up the entire mudroom bench, which was suppose to be for the kids to sit on while taking off/putting on their shoes.

When you see the pics below, please go easy on me- Remember this is a mudroom, and I store all my hangers in here, so I can air dry clothes on laundry day! Sorry for the mess...

So on a whim (those usually get me in big trouble), we went to Lowes with our measurements. The nice men at Lowe's cut all the partical board exactly to my specification, which means a) it was much easier to get the small peices home, b) I wouldn't have to cut them myself, which leads me to c) my husband banned me from his power tools 8 years ago when I almost cut my thumb off with one, so he was happy the work was already done... actually, he had no idea about this project until he got home that night, but you get my point. We anchored the corners with 2x2 boards for stability. My Chihuahua is a porker.

Alex did a lot of the work himself. He has an engineering-type mind, and loves evaluating how things will go together.

Then, we all took turns spray painting the house black, inside and out.

As you can see, Ashi is in the midst of a very dramatic story right now! :)

We staple gunned a pillow case to each side of the front, making curtains for Stoney, then I tied each back with a big maroon bow! We had to coax him into it at first with a peanut butter treat, but he still wasn't so sure...

But it wasn't long before he loved his new house. I was able to use the top of it to house all our pet items and accessories- dog food lids, leashes and collars, and (ahem) Stoney's clothes. Sweet dreams, Stonewall!

Day 4

Day 4: Up Close and Personal

Our day 4 experiment was to take super-close pictures of things (in secret!), then upload them on the computer. Everyone else had to guess what your pictures were. It was a super-simple project, but it kept us busy for over an hour! The older two kids helped the younger two with their photography, and we got some good pictures! Can you guess what these things are?

Day 3

Day 3: Duping the Dogs?

Well, although we've been doing a project a day, I find I am not blogging about our activities each day. So I will try to get better at that!

Our day 3 activity was lots of fun, and it involved the dogs- Mosby the Grey Ghost (our lab) and Stonewall Jackson (our Chihuahua) were thrilled! :)

"Really? I get to play, too?"

First, my 4 kiddos slathered peanut butter on tiny apple dog treats we bought. Then, we placed 3 small squares of wax paper on the floor, and covered them with red plastic cups. Next, we took one treat (while the guinea pigs...er... I mean dogs.. weren't looking), and placed it under one cup. We called the dogs over, shuffled the cups around, and spread them out on the floor. then, we sat back and waited for the dogs to make their choices.

Mosby went first...

Mosby chose the right one!

Stoney anxiously awaited his turn...

Mosby sat out while Stoney chose, but it wasn't easy for him. You can't hear him whining impatiently in this picture!

Especially as he watched Stonewall eat a peanut butter slathered treat!

And the result? Both dogs were able to choose the correct cup each time! They are HUGE fans of peanut butter, so I actually think they could smell it a mile away! :)

Mosby was so greatful, he wanted to hold hands.

DAY 2

Day 2

Today, we were a little short on time!

We opted for a quick craft instead of a lengthy project. It was still an enjoyable time together! And all be it a no-prep-involved print off, it allowed the kids to exercise their minds for a moment on a hot summer day!

Here is the link to the print off puzzle: http://www.photoshoproadmap.com/imagenes/blog/puzzle/final-image-big.jpg

And here are the pictures of us solving them!

Enjoy!

Day 1 of our 30 Days of FUN TOGETHER Experiment

DAY 1

We had fun in our experiment kick-off!

We decided to make a game together for Day 1! Enjoy the pictures below, and please comment with your own experiences, and your ideas! I looooooove my comments! :)

Game: Bolo Ball

Materials Needed:

1 piece of paper, a marker, some string cut in 1 and 1/2 to 2 foot pieces, tape, and plastic eggs

Instructions:

Cut your paper into 4 strips that measure approximately 8 and 1/2" by 2".

Tie knots in either end of each length of string. Get the knots as close to the tips as possible. (In the picture, my daughter is folding up a peice of tape, because we couldn't find string in the house!! It worked very well.)

Place the very end of each piece of string into a plastic egg, and close the egg on the string (with the knot inside). When you are finished with this step, each string will have an egg on each end of it.

With the marker, write numbers on each piece of paper. They should read 10, 20, 30 and 40. Place a strip of tape at each end of each strip of paper. (My 4 year old is still working on making her numbers from the top, instead of the bottom!!)

Tape the papers to the rungs of a ladder. It doesn't matter if you put the higher numbers at the top or the bottom.

Now, make a line on the floor that your toes must stay behind. We drew on our garage floor with chalk. If you are playing indoors, you can lightly place a peice of tape on the floor.

Now, take turns tossing the play peices, and see who can score the most points by hooking theirs over the highest numbers!

My 4 year old was the first one to score points! She is slightly airborne in this picture! :)

Enjoy!!!

30 days of crafts!

I have realized that all too often, I allow days to slip past me. I get frustrated at night when I cannot think of any really fun projects my kids and I have done together in the entire 14 hours that we're awake. How is that possible?

I am remedying this by (starting TODAY!!) posting crafts, games, challenges, day trips, etc that we do together on my site. We will feature one "together time" item per day. I would love for you to join me, and let me know your own experiences and ideas! I do love all comments!

I will post our very first project (with pictures) later today!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fun Christmas Homeschool Ideas

I am always looking for fun ways to tie in current events with our homeschooling!
For instance, at Easter time we learned Bible verses about the Resurrection, did a science experiment with an egg, planted some new flowers and talked about Spring, and had fun with an "empty tomb" marshmallow recipe (http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/recipes_q_-_s.html#resurectionrolls).

For the Presidential Election, we created a huge scrapbook with the history of voting, the requirements of Presidents, the processes of running for President, etc. Of course, we ended the scrapbook with polls and ballots that the children we able to cast themselves! They also went to the polls and watched me early vote.

I've been looking for some fun activities to do for Christmas as well!

Here are our plans:
Memorize the verses surrounding part of the Christmas Story (Luke 2:8-14)
Create new ornaments for our tree
Make some Amish Friendship Bread Starter to share with neighbors (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Amish-Friendship-Bread-Starter/Detail.aspx)
Study Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol
Learn some Christmas Carols, their place of origin, and put them on our timeline
Learn the origin of the Christmas Tree
Learn the legend of the candy cane
Bake a birthday cake on Christmas Day and sing "Happy Birthday to Jesus!"

Fun Homeschool Blogger Swap!

I received my gift today from my swap sister in the homeschool blogger gift swap!

I am going to love scrapbooking with "The Art of Choosing Joy!" And what a wonderful topic as a homeschooling mom! When there are so many other choices that we sometimes make, it is important to remember that God wants us to be joyful. Thank you again, Montserrat!

We just participated in a Homeschool Science Fair! We were nervous, because we had some really intense competition!! But the kids did AWESOME!!!! Here are some photos...

This is Avery working on her experiment, "How Strong is an Egg." She was the only 3 year old in the competition!!Courtney really enjoyed learning "What Makes Popcorn Pop"And Alex did a wonderful job studying "Salinity and Buoyancy!"Avery and Ashlyn waited patiently for the science fair to begin.They share lots of hugs!
Avery was pumped up to do her presentation! Here she is posing for a picture with her board.
She is explaining her project to the judges...Then, she went to give Courtney a hug for encouragement. Courtney was VERY nervous!!
Her board looked great! And she did an awesome job with her presentation!!
Alex was SOOOOO ready! Bring it on!! We couldn't believe what a great public speaker he is!

Avery got a 3rd place medal for her division!!! GooooOOOOO Avery! Courtney also got a 3rd place medal for her division!!!! Woo-HOO!!!!And Alex got 1st Place!!!! WOW!!!!!!!! Way to go guys! I'm SOOOOO PROUD!!!