JETIHOJA ACADEMY

New Quarterly Freebie from Hands of a Child Lapbooks!

2008-12-16T23:24:00.001-08:00

Here is the new quarterly freebie from In the Hands of a Child Lapbooking Co.

If you are doing a study on Ecosystems, or wanted to learn more about it, then this is a must get download from Hands of a Child. It includes a 7 page research guide and 16 booklets. Head on over to Hands of a Child and download your free copy today.

Keep It Simple!

2008-11-21T11:43:00.000-08:00

Last night we had a Homeschool Round Table Discussion Event for the local homeschooling community. It was such a blessing to me.

I have been homeschooling for 14+ years and it never fails that I learn something new each year I homeschool. I knew keeping things simple while homeschooling is always best, but last night I saw first hand that it is the KEY to successfully homeschool all the way through (birth through highschool). That doesn't mean there won't be bad days, months, or years, but it is the key to keep on moving on with homeschooling.

Each one of the ladies up on the panel all homeschooled differently (methods, idea's, etc.), but one common thread was that they learned to KEEP IT SIMPLE.

I started out using box curriculum and used it for several years. Looking back, I wonder how I did it sometimes. When my oldest was in 6th grade and thought how in the world was I going to do this box stuff x5? (There is 6 years difference between my first and second child) I looked at his big stack of books and my big stack of books that I needed to teach and envisioned seeing 5 big stacks for each of my children, plus my stacks. I was overwhelmed and about to give up.

I attended an event by Jennifer Steward and it was like the sky opened wide and I heard angels singing. There were other options out there for me to use. I don't know why it took attending this event to realize that, as I had other friends that used other curriculum, but I never seemed to make that connection. Isn't it like that with us sometimes? I think it is part of my stubborn side. *Ü*

Since then I have started simplifying my homeschooling world. Each year it gets better and better as far as what I will let go of and let myself realize that I don't have to do this and that to be successful. But that is a whole different topic post. *Ü*

In short, I just want to encourage other homeschooling mom's or dad's that it is ok to take breaks, it is ok to not do what Suzy or Tom is doing with their homeschooling. Enjoy each season of life with your children and keep it simple!

I like my dear friend Lisa's Motto: Keep it Simple Sweetie! I think I am going to steal her motto!

HOAC Lapbook Freebie

2008-11-17T12:55:00.001-08:00

This week's CurrClick's freebie is: The Girl in the Rag Coat from In The Hands of a Child.

Here is a description of the lapbook from HOAC:

Learn more about a little girl and her rag coat when you read the heartwarming story, “The Rag Coat” by Lauren Mills and complete a lapbook with the Project Pack, The Girl in the Rag Coat. In this unit, you will find a 6-page Research Guide dedicated to the story with questions to ask your student, a mini-Research Guide about quilting, coal mining, and Appalachia along with 24 hands-on activities that correspond to the story and the guide.

Head on over to CurrClick to receive this free lapbook! If you have been interested in Lapbooking, now is a good time to head over and check them out for FREE. Hurry because this offer expires on Monday 11-24-08.

On a side note, I LOVE HOAC lapbooks. They are my favorite by far because they are complete with a research guide (so you don't have to do extra research), they provide answer keys, and the quality is wonderful.

Vote Today & Get a FREE Cup of Starbucks Coffee!

2008-11-04T09:23:00.001-08:00

What a GREAT way to celebrate voting! Go and vote and get your free cup of coffee!

Click on picture to see the video at youtube.

Enoy!

Wondering What I Made?

2008-10-20T17:41:00.000-07:00

I made a YUMMY crock-pot Apple Pie! Everyone enjoyed this special dessert. It was easy to put together following the instructions found HERE. I substituted canned peaches for apple pie filling.

This is definately one I will make again.

Want to Use Your Crock-Pot?

2008-10-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

If so, I have the site for you! A Year of CrockPotting is blog dedicated to someones resolution to use her crock-pot every day for the year of 2008. What a goal! And so far she is at day 288.

This site blew me away. I love that she has a picture of the food, picture of the ingredients, along with great instructions on how to make the crock-pot creation.

Head on over to her blog and plan your next meal, dessert, or side dish. *Ü*

I am going to make something special tonight from this site for my family. Come back tomorrow to find out what it is and to see pictures! What Fun!!!

Enjoy!

ETA: With the events of today, I won't be able to make what I had hoped. I will make it tomorrow. I had to do some shopping and then my MIL came for a visit bringing treats all the way from France! And her yummy bacon balls (a recipe I need to get)!

Menu Plan Monday

2008-10-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

Well, here is my very first post for Menu Plan Monday. I can not guarantee that this will be set in stone, but at least I have a plan, right. *Ü*

Monday

Eating out with family

Tuesday

Lunch: Chicken Salad Sandwiches & soup (recipe below)

Dinner: Homemade Chicken Nuggets & Fries (the girls will cook). Recipe can be found in Better Homes and Gardens New Junior Cook Book on pg 73 & 86-87.

Wednesday

Dinner: Chicken Crock Pot w/ carrots and potato's

Placed whole chicken (cleaned & washed) in crock pot, added a little water, 1 package Lipton Onion Soup mix , chopped veggies, and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve with rolls.

Thursday

Dinner: Spaghetti and Garlic Bread

I always make my spaghetti sauce this way: cook ground beef w/ garlic and onion, add 1 can hunts spaghetti sauce, 1 can tomato soup, and a sprinkle of sugar. This helps cut out the acid in the tomato's. Note: Don't add to much sugar as sweet spaghetti sauce isn't too tasty. I also use this same recipe for the sauce in my lasagna.

Great homemade garlic bread spread: soften butter (has to be butter) and add sprinkles of Johnny's garlic seasoning to get it the consistency you want.

Friday & Sat

Dinner at Grandma's

Sunday

Something simple

Again, it feels good to know I have a plan, but to also know if I switch it around a bit, that will be ok. *Ü* This week is not a normal week and I am normally cooking 7 nights a week. Hum... maybe I should have started this during a normal week. Oh well, you have to start sometime, right. *Ü*

To see MANY more Menu Plan Monday lists, click on the graphic above and it will take you to the main website.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

1 can chunk chicken (I use the type from Costco)
1/4 cup mayo (or enough to make it the consistency you like)
tablespoon full of sweet relish
squirt of mustard
8 slices of bread
8 slices of American cheese

Mix the first 4 ingredients together. Toast bread and lay on baking sheet. Spread chicken mixture on top of toast, then lay a slice of cheese on top. Broil until cheese is bubbly (make sure to watch closely as this can happen quickly). Serve with hot soup, salad, or chips.

Checking in...

2008-10-12T16:45:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! *Ü*

Yup, I went missing again for a bit and haven't made a post in a while. We have been busy getting into a routine with homeschooling and life. We just finished week 4 of this school year and perhaps next Friday I will be up to make a weekly report and share what we've been up to at Jetihoja Academy.

I am trying to be more disciplined in some area's of my life. To be honest, I have many areas to work on in regards to my own self discipline and my family. Something we started last week is getting up by 7:30 am, eat, chores, get dressed, etc. by 8:30 am. Then we start in on school and begin with 365 Days Celebration and Praise and bible study. Jessica and Timmy are working on a study together and Jake and Holly are doing a separate one as well. We all have enjoyed this and the kids ask to do it daily (well at least the week we were consistent with it *Ü* ).

We attend a homeschooling co-op with First Class Ministries and this co-op has been a blessing to our family. The kids are taking a wide variety of class from Beg. Drawing and Design, WA State History, Election Lapbooking, and more. One of my favorite times during co-op is chapel time. During this time we sing praises, hear a brief message, say the Pledge of Allegiance, and more. What a wonderful way for homeschooling families in our community to grow closer together. And one of the best times of the day is Lunch Hour! It is great to see all these families in there interacting with each other and seeing the kids making new friends. My son told me he already made 2 new friends. *Ü* That is a REAL blessing for him.

We put Holly back in art class at a local art school and her creations are just wonderful. Her last one just blew me away! It looked like something from a children's storybook. Here is her picture:

As you can see our life has been full of "things" to occupy our time. I am going to try and do the Menu Plan Monday Meme and if I do, I will be back tomorrow with our weekly menu. I know with the economy and all, I need to get a little more organized with my meal planning. Hopefully this will help me. *Ü*

Blessings~Tina

Our Day Didn't Go As I Had Planned....

2008-09-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

Instead, my dear husband came home early and we ended up heading to the beach!

The kids had a blast looking for Spider Crabs on the dock and making little (OK BIG) dwellings on the beach for them. While on the docks we saw candle fish, muscles, seagulls (one was eating a muscle), and lots of other sea creatures. (unfortunately I never took out the camera today)

We also took the boat out for a little while and pulled the kids around in the inner tube. It was sunny, but cold and the kids (Jessica and Timmy) insisted on getting in the water, so we let them. Aren't we fun parents? *Ü*

ETA: I once heard that a boat is one of the best places for a family to spend time together. There is no place to go and everyone is pretty much forced to communicate with each other. I have to agree... We have spent some wonderful days together on our boat. I do have to add that I don't always want to head out on the boat (honestly, I am not much of an outdoors person), but once I am out there I ask myself why in the world didn't I want to come... *Ü*

Our day ended up perfectly with warm cookies and Dad reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader aloud before bed time. It was great having Dad for longer than we expected today.

At first I wasn't to sure about having my school schedule interrupted again (this happened last week too), but then my thoughts went back to the workshop I attended this Saturday. I know we will have lots of time to get our assignments done before this school year is over and I know they will get more from our adventure of the day (building family ties & learning about some the animals of the Puget Sound), than they would staying at home doing their seat work.

With that said we did get a little school in today. Each day I am reading from a neat book called: 365 Days of Celebration & Praise. Each day there is a different theme, be it event of the day, week, or month. Today we happened to read that it is Children's Good Manners Month.

We also started our Explorers Bible Studies. Jessica and Timmy are both using the same books and Jake and Holly are doing a different one. With Jake and Holly I am not having them write things out, I am doing it all orally with them. We had a wonderful time doing these studies and I don't know why I haven't pulled them out before now.

That is my story of how our (should say "MY"), day didn't go as I had planned... But it turned out wonderfully after all. *Ü*

Charlotte Mason Education

2008-09-21T17:45:00.000-07:00

2 other homeschooling mothers (one was Lisawa) and I made a road trip this weekend to attend a Charlotte Mason Workshop given by Catherine Levison. Boy was it one of the BEST days I have had in a LONG LONG time! The fellowship was wonderful, uplifting, and supportive. The workshop really refilled my cup and I am excited at the new possibilities that await around the corner with our homeschooling journey.

I really like this philosophy and do want to implement this into our homeschooling and family life. I purchased all of Catherine's Books and can't wait to finishing reading them all. I have read the introduction to the Literary Education and paged through the book lists. There are a lot of books in there that we haven't read yet. My personal homeschooling goal is to get a lot of those book read over the years to come.

One idea I came away with is to do short lessons with the max. time being 15 min per lesson. If we need to stop at 15 min and come back later to finish something up, that is fine. But the idea is to not sit there for a hour doing the same work; give your children breaks.

Another thought was to not try and implement everything I liked about the workshop starting Monday morning. Do a little at a time, introduce concepts/ideas slowly to avoid burnout or the feeling of not living up to "my" expectations based on what I learned this weekend. I will take it slowly, I am not supermom and can't do the swicheroo 2 days time. This will be a learning process for me and can I tell you I am excited about what lies ahead of us.

I have spent quite a bit of time on 2 sites today: Simply Charlotte Mason and Ambleside Classical. I have been receiving emails (in digest form) from Ambleside's online yahoo group for years, but never really have taken the time to read them. The file section is loaded with goodies, and the website is filled with free things to help implement what you teach to your children.

On Ambleside Classical, I found a page that shares the complete 6 volume set: The Original Homeschooling Series, written by Miss. Mason herself for FREE. Catherine recommend reading book 1, 3, & 4 to gleam the best understanding of her philosophy. So I have not decided to dedicate some time during the week to read these books, or at the min., the sections that are of top interest to me.

As I continue learning I will update my blog with my ah-ha moments and share tidbits of what I learned at the workshop. Do stay tuned! *Ü*

Are there any other CM users or want to be users that visit my blog? I would love to visit your site and gleam from your experience and/or begin this journey with you. *Ü*

2008-09-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

What an adorable Award: I Love Your Blog! Thank you Rhonda at Living Water Christian Academy for thinking of me and giving me this award. I really appreciated receiving this award and what a WONDERFUL way to be welcomed back to the blogging world after my "short" summer break.

Now to "Pass It On" on to five... (oh this is a tough one)

Patricia at Classical Education Our Way takes some of the best pictures in the world, is always sharing what she loves to do with her family, and is a blessing to visit with in IRL.

Tami at Ambleside Classical is always sharing what she is doing with her DD and I just can't wait until she comes off her summer blog break!

Tressa at Tressays is a wonderful writer! I love reading her posts. I feel as if I am sitting down with a cup of jo visiting with her and listening to her talk IRL. (Hey... I need to do that soon!) I need to spend a little time catching up on her blog since my blog break. Sad to say, I've barely visited any blogs during my break and this is one blog I wish I would have visited more often. How are you doing my friend? *Ü*

Barb at Handbook of Nature Study! I saw LisaWa gave her the award for her other blog (Harmony Fine Arts) so I am hitting this one! *Ü* This award says it all! Thanks for all you do for others! You are such a great encourager and it is a blessing to know you. (Update: I just noticed Lisa awarded her for both blogs! Hey that's not fair!!! LOL Anyways, my decision still stands *Ü* )

And the next award goes to everyone else that stops by here to see what Jetihoja Academy is up too. This award is for you! Grab the button and pass it on! *Ü*

Sketch Tuesday: Something With A Door

2008-09-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

I finally reminded the girls to do this fun activity BEFORE the due date. LOL Something I haven't been to good at lately.

Jessica's Drawing

Holly's Drawing

They had a lot of fun drawing something with a door. But the great part was listening to them talk about drawing something with a door: Bird Cage, Play Room Door, etc. These assigments really get my kids to think "outside" the box.

Thank you, Barb!

To read about Sketch Tuesday, participate in this event, or to view other drawings, vist Sketch Tuesday.

Freebie from Hands of a Child Lapbook!

2008-09-15T08:42:00.000-07:00

Curriclum Click weekly freebie for this week 9-15 to 9-21 is a WONDERFUL lapbook by In the Hands of a Child titled: Slavery.

I have done this lapbook with my children and it was very informative and kept the children's attention. We ALL learned a lot.

If you wanted to try lapbooking, there is no better way to try it out now that it is FREE this week. Head on over to Curr Click and pick up the freebie!

A Little Blog Break

2008-07-11T02:50:00.000-07:00

This announcement is WAY overdue, but I think it is about time I made it. I will be taking a little blog break. I may come and share things from time to time until I am back into the swing of things.

I am really busy with helping to start a new co-op/homeschool support group in our area. Boy this takes up a lot of time. But it will be well worth it. I really feel God moving in a big way with this ministry and am just tickled to be a part of it.

In the month of June I was busy with getting ready for the WHO convention and presenting 2 workshops there. That really took a lot of our time as we were preparing some wonderful hands on activities for the attendees. I was SHOCKED at how many showed up to my 1st workshop... 85 people. I was overwhelmed. I have never given a talk like this (except at our local used curr. sale) and was beside myself somewhat. But I love lapbooking and I think all and all it turn out just fine. :) The next day was much better. There were about 25 or so people

Here is a picture from my workshop and some from the convention:

My Booth (Representing In The Hands of a Child Lapbooks)

This was at my friends booth. She has created these WONDERFUL countries studies. We actually used her Russia one and learned so much about it. You can see what we did HERE. To learn more about her products you can visit here: Into All The World.

3 girls protecting the booth...

We will be doing Brazil next using Into All The World Country Studies.

All the kids but Jake are away at summer camp for the next few days.

After this camp, Jessica and Holly will be a horse camp for a week. They are really looking forward to this. I am sure I will come back on her to share their adventures with you all.

We are also planning a Chocolate Study using HOAC Chocolate Project Pack and a few other items I have found to expand on the topic. I will surely post about this fun event! If there is time, I want to get a horse project pack from HOAC and a unit study completed. We shall see.

I am also working a couple subject with the kids that need to be finished before our new school year that starts in Sept. Yes, time does fly and Sept. will be here before I know it. We don't have much to catch up with, but with all the breaks/happenings this summer, we still need to set time aside to accomplish these things.

Thanks for the private emails from others that have been wondering where I was at? It makes me feel so special. :) What would I do with out you all? Thanks for your encouragement.

Wordless Wednesday: What does this picture say to you?

2008-06-04T00:27:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday: A Thirsty Birdie

2008-05-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

What Type of Shoe Am I?

2008-05-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

I saw this Quiz over at Classical Education Our Way and just had to try it out as well. Well I do like country music, I don't own a pair of cowboy boots at all...

You Are Cowboy Boots

This doesn't mean you're country, just funky.

You've got a ton of attitude and confidence.

You're unique, expressive, and even a little bit wacky.

You wear whatever you feel like â€“ and you have your own sense of style.

You are straight shooting and honest. You tell people how it is.

Low maintenance and free wheeling, you're always up for an adventure.

You should live: Where you can at least get to wide open spaces

You should work: In a job that allows you to take change

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

I have been TAGGED!

2008-05-11T18:29:00.000-07:00

Here are the rules:

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.

2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.

3. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people and posts their name, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

What was I doing 10 years ago:

Homeschooling & mother of 3. Oh I was also the Children's Director for our church.

Five Snacks I enjoy:

1. Chocolate Chip ice cream with teeny tiny chocolate chip shavings
2. Almost anything with Coconut
3. Homemade popcorn with LOTS of butter
4. Fruit Salads (just different types of fruit cut up in a bowl, and of course I have to add a little coconut with that)
5. Does Coconut Lattes Count as a snack? I know they count as a meal if you're counting calories. *Ü*

In the real world:

What you see at my blog is who I am. *Ü* There is a little more to me I guess, but not sure how to share it in this post. It is just something you'd have to find out if we get the wonderful opportunity to meet each other IRL. *Ü*

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

1. Pay off Debt
2. Purchase a home big enough for everyone to have their own rooms, an office for Greg and one for me, a guest room, and just LOTS of room to entertain my family and friends. Oh and have it be on LOTS of acreage
3. Take care of my mom
4. Donate $$ to support programs/charities I want to
5. Give some to family and friends
6. Travel (with family AND friends)
7. Oh this list could go on and on....

Five jobs that I have had:

1. Worked at my parents Donut Shop
2. Dairy Queen Counter girl and drive thru attendee
3. Day Care Assistant
4. Asst. Manger/Desk Clerk at a motel
5. Worked at a third party administer for a health insurance company

Three of my habits:

1. Check email, blogs, WTM, Yahoo groups in the mornings... and other undisclosed times during the day.
2. Planning... I am always planning something...
3. Talk with my hands (something I am trying to not do that much)

Five places I have lived:

1. North Carolina
2. Japan
3. Arizona
4. California
5. Washington

What do you want others to get from your blog:

I originally started this so my family (especially those in NC), could see what my family was up to. I am horrible at a keeping in touch and thought this would be a wonderful way to do it.

I would love to offer encouragement and help to other homeschoolers across the world. To share idea's, and to learn from other homeschooling families.

Who am I tagging:

1. Someone/Anyone that wants to join in the fun...
2. And another person...
3. That means You!
4. Just make sure...
5. You leave a comment here so I can check out your post as well. I would love to learn more about you. *Ü*

I have been missing...

2008-05-08T22:29:00.000-07:00

posting here at my blog. But life has been pretty busy around here lately.

I am part of a wonderful group of gals that is starting a homeschooling co-op in our area. Boy this is a LOT of work. But I feel it is very God directed and am extremely excited about it. We are finishing up the final touches to get the teacher request forms out. We are still trying to come up with a name. Boy, this is so hard to do... But I am sure we will come up with a perfect name.

Our Co-op classes are over (art, bible, human body, Latin-though online classes are continuing), but Zoology is still happening for the next 4 weeks. We are doing Zoology at my house and I am enjoying being home to do teach this. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed being at my friends houses as well, but there is nothing like teaching in your own home. I just wished I had a bigger home like my friends. It would be nice if the mom's could have a separate room to visit in.

My mom got pretty sick this week and ended up staying the night in the hospital. She is doing much better, but the Dr. still need to find out what the root of her problem is. They think is is Bilateral Vertigo, but they don't know much about vertigo. Please pray for my mom. She is afraid to lay down flat (understandably so), because she is worried it will happen again.

Other things in life have been happening: school, visiting with my grand baby when ever possible, field trips, helping Nana, and more... It is amazing how busy our lives can get during different seasons in our lives. I am anxiously awaiting for a slow season.

Oh and we finished our Russia Study! YEAH! My friend will be finishing up her finally revision of her studies and will have these for sale very soon. I couldn't recommend the Russia one highly enough. I have learned so much... and so have the kids. I can't wait to get the next one she has for me to review. And I will be sure to post here as soon as they are available for sale.

Something I have been neglecting that I am waiting to get back into ASAP is our nature studies. I am really missing these and am looking forward to getting back to them.

I will be posting updates on our weekly reports, field trips, etc as soon as I can. I miss doing these things. At times I think I am not doing enough with school, but when I post a weekly report, oh my... I feel like I did a lot more then I thought I did.

Thanks for stopping by

PS: Patrica, I will get to that tag asap. Thanks for thinking of me!

Carnival of Notebooking

2008-04-23T13:09:00.001-07:00

Here is a wonderful new carnival that just started up. It is all about Notebooking! Head on over to read how other homeschoolers use the notebooking approach with their children.

Make sure you sign up for the weekly newsletter so you can see when the next carnival will take place. You might want to submit your blog post to share in the next Carnival of Notebooking!

Wordless Wednesday: Something is a Little Odd...

2008-04-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

Weekly Report: It's been a while...

2008-04-18T07:58:00.000-07:00

The title should say 2 week report, but that just wouldn't be the same now would it... *Ü*

We have been pretty busy around here (nothing unusual, seems like we are always busy). Here is a re-cap of the past 2 weeks:

Jessica:

Can I tell you all how much I LOVE Lightning Literature 7? I just LOVE IT! She is really enjoying reading these wonderful books, short stories, and poems. We (yes, even me) learned how to analyze a poem as well. When I first saw the activity page I was so lost, but when I began to read the teacher manual, it all feel into place easily. They really laid it out nicely with examples so I was able to explain it easily to Jessica so she would be able to understand it.

She is enjoying her Home2Teach class and is working on a narrative report on someones life. 3 more weeks and her report will be completed.

Timmy:

My favorite subject for Timmy is writing. We use Writing Tales and really enjoy it. Both Timmy and I enjoy this. Here is a creative writing activity he did recently based on the fable Androcles:

Bob
One day a scuba diver named Bob was out scuba diving and he saw a whale shark. Afraid of the shark he started to swim back to the shore. Surprised that the shark did not chase him, he swam back to the shark. The shark showed Bob his back fin. Bob saw that there was a big cut on sharks back fin making it unable far the shark to swim. Bob took the shark to the shark doctor. The doctor bandaged up the cut and the shark’s fin healed in two weeks. From that time on the shark guarded Bob from sea monsters while he swam in the sea.

In Art class he has been doing using water colors along with other mediums to create these wonderful paintings. The top one is one where we used water color paintings and created the effect of depth by creating an horizon line and adding color in a certain way. The bottom one is where they used different effects of water colors (blotting, running, splashing, etc) and then they added details to the pictures making a Magical Circus painting. Timmy's is of a clown that is juggling some planets. Above the clown's head is an exploding cake... Oh boys...

Timmy's Teaching Textbook 6 has arrived. It looks really nice. He wants to get started right now, but we need to finish up his other book first.

He has been reading lots of Tin Tin and Nate the Great books. He didn't really start reading independently until 4th grade. He was a slow reader and I didn't push the issue of reading. If I did, he cried. He now reads a ton! He loves reading! Timmy and his dad read together almost every night and Timmy enjoy this time with his father.

Holly:

In Art class the kids have been creating clay family plaques for the past 2 weeks. Here is her finished project (Dad, Mom, Holly, and her cat):

At her art class she also worked on a Sea Horse project. It tured out lovely!

I asked her what she enjoyed doing in school over the last 2 weeks and she said, "A little math". I think that translates into her only enjoying a little aspects of what she does with math. She is still struggling with division, so this is still her least favorite subject to do.

Jake:

In Art class, Jake did the same thing as Holly. Here is his finished project (Daddy and Me):

I asked Jake what he has enjoyed about school lately and he said, "I LOVE math!" and hopped away... That about sums it up for Jake.

ME:

In my co-op class there are times I want to do the project too, but I am busy with helping the kids that I wouldn't be able to do the project. So I went to a friends house (she also happens to be may facilitator in my art class), last week and we did one of the Atelier Project together, just us mom's. Below are the 2 pictures I did using water color crayons. They are inspired by the artist Georgia O'Keeffe.

I am also busy coming up with co-op class idea's for the fall. I have been having so much fun coming up with class idea's. I think I will teach a All American History Class Vol 1. Not sure on the grade level yet as it will depend on what is needed at the co-op. I have LOTS of other idea's too (I always do each year), but I need to narrow it down to 2.

Zoology:

I am really enjoying this class (Zoology 1). I am (and so are the kids) learning so much about birds. For example, I love breast meat... I never knew it was one of the muscles they used for flying. There has been so many other GREAT things we have learned in this class.

The kids have been doing bird notebooking pages, lapbooking, playing a game called Quizzical (a review card game using a tri fold board), taking quizzes, and doing fun experiments.

EXTRA:

We went on a nature walk to a Bonsai Garden with the folks from Sticks and Stones. I will post highlights of this trip in our long overdue Green Hour Report 8/9.

For our Russia study we watched a video from Reading Rainbow that shared the book: Rechenka's Eggs . Oh my I loved this video! It touched on so many aspects of Russia. It brought a lot that we have learned about to life. I followed up this video by doing (still working on it) a lapbook based on the book, Rechenka's Eggs, with Holly and Jake. We will share once we are done with it.

I didn't get to our art appreciation studies like I wanted too. I wanted to finish up our Russia study as well. We only have 2 more days on our Russia Study and they we will be done. Except for doing the lapbook I created for our study. Then we will be learning about China.

Here are some extra pictures I took throughout the past 2 weeks:

Remember to check out our Green Hour Challenge Weeks 8/9 as well. This is a recap of our nature studies.

Green Hour Challenge 6 and 7

2008-04-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

We did these challenges during separate weeks, but I am just getting around to posting about them. I am excited about this weeks challenge: Up Close and Personal. With this challenge #8, we will be looking at different things with a magnifying glass. How cool is that!

We have been seeing so many things from nature our eyes weren't tuned into as before. A different shaped leaf, an unusual shaped rock, an unknown flower, an animal, and more... We have been blessed to see many different types of animal in our yard lately. Here are some highlights:

We have seen a Opossum (not dead in the middle of the road, but a real live one!) and Raccoons on our deck late at night.

The kids found two Long-Toed salamanders and they made a little habitat for him for a couple hours.

A bird is building a nest in our newspaper box. We don't get the paper, so it is fine by us. It is at a perfect height so we can see the nest building process and hopefully see some eggs and baby birdies. We saw the mom with a twig in her beak one day and we now that this bird is a Mountain Chickadee (great site with eggs in the nest). The next day after we took the picture below, it looked like someone reached their hand in and destroyed the nest. We thought this oppertunity was all over now. But a few days later it was built up again (see pictres for challenge 7). We will be sharing more pictures each weeks as we watch this birds nest.

Challenge 6: Starting a Collection

I asked the kids what things they would like to collect. I can't say we have gotten to far with this.

Holly: She has been collecting sea shells and wants to add to her collection.

Question: Would it be ok to purchase a pack of sea shells from a craft store and help her to identify them? Or would that be cheating? Or does she need to find them on her own at the beach?

Jessica wants to start a insect collection. UM... I haven't been to keen on encouraging this. Bad mommy. But I don't care much for bugs. But she does... I need to have her start gathering the bugs she would like to "kill" and get this project started. I will do better at encouraging this... I will, I will, I will...

Timmy: He doesn't know... Don't think his is interested in collecting anything. And know what... That is ok.

Jake: Pressed flowers... Now this one I like. We have already pressed a couple flowers he has plucked from the ground.

We did a Mini-Study on the salamander as well as our Green Hour Notebooking Page.

I drew a picture of a Alstroemeria in my sketch book.

Challenge 7: Your Own Field Guide

We don't have a color printer and I don't think I am up to creating our own field guide yet. Love the idea though. We do keep track of birds we see in our yard and add them to our list. Recently we added a Black-Capped Chickadee to our list.

While Jessica and Timmy were out dirt bike riding, Timmy saw a black tailed deer next to the path. He stopped his bike and the deer ran about 5 feet in front of him, crossing his path. He thought that was AMAZING! (see Weekly Report for pictures)

Holly did a sketch entry of the opossum in her nature journal.

We did a Mini-Study on the opossum and also did our Green Hour Notebooking Page.

As a extra bonus, we watched Kristen's Fairy House (this site has some neat coloring pages and other activities to do). It was a cute movie that really touched on nature studies. It was neat watching the aunt sketch in her notebook (of a tree) while her niece built a fairy house. I saw it as a wonderful example of how to sketch in our journals. These sketches were used for the aunts books. We checked out the video from our local library.

The next day Holly set off into the woods and made her own Fairy House. She had a lot of fun making it. I was really impressed at what she choose to use. She even used some shells from her sea shell collection.

Holly also was happy to find a bee with pollen on it and she wanted to keep it until dad got home so he could see the pollen on its legs.

We have had some really bazaar weather around her lately. As we were driving home one evening, the clouds above the Olympic Mountains looked amazing. There was a little light showing between 2 peeks and dark clouds all round it. When we got home, Jessica went to her nature journal and sketch what she saw.

And here is a picture of what the nest looks like as of 2 days ago:

We also went on a nature walk with the folks from Koinonia Academy and another family. What an experience this was. We got hailed on! And not just a little either. When we arrived it was nice and sunny. I took a few pictures of the clouds in the skies because I thought they looked neat. Little did I know what they were really holding in them. I should have known. LOL Enjoy some of the pictures from our walk in the slide show below. To read captions, just click on slide and scroll over the picture.

And that concludes our 2 weeks in review of our Green Hour Challenges!

~*~Have A Wonderful Week~*~

Weekly Report: Spring Break

2008-04-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, we didn't take a full break during Spring Break. I needed to keep up with math (especially since Holly has been struggling with division) and we also did some of our Russia Study. Here is a break down of our week:

Monday:

Went on a nature walk at Clear Creek Trail with some friends. We got hailed on... What an experience. Check out our Green Hour Challenge 6/7 report for more details.

Worked on Russia Study. We read 2 Russian Folk Tales (Tales From Russia), read about the Russian People(in Russia the People), and about a young girl that lived in Soviet Times that was persecuted for not wearing the "Komsomol" (red scarf), because it went against her Christian beliefs. We also filled out our notebook journal page.

We also watched a wonderful video called: Kristen's Fairy House . It touched a lot on our nature studies. For more details, check out our Green Hour Challenge 6/7.

Jessica also made homemade pizza pockets using a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens "New Junior Cook Book".

Tuesday:

Worked on Russia Study. We learned more about the Mongol people and how a community would work. Read a story about a christian wife that wanted to be baptised, but her husband and his family were against it and did everything possible not to let this happen... But our God is a mighty God and she was able to make this public acknowledgement despite the odds. They also filled out their notebook journal page.

(for our Russian stories, we are using the book called: They Would Not Be Moved by Harvey Yoder)

Holly made a Fairy House in the woods.

Jessica and Timmy went dirt bike riding with their dad.

Wednesday:

Jessica and Timmy went dirt bike riding with their dad.

Thursday:

We were supposed to go to Wilcox Farms for a field trip, but Jake was sick for 2 days and I didn't want to take the chance of infecting the family that was driving there with us, or anyone else once we got there. We stayed home.

We worked on our Russia Study. Jessica and Timmy finished up learning about the Mongols and they made Mongol hats. Timmy's hat was a little big at first(see picture), but we quickly fixed it and it fits perfectly now. Jessica had me take a picture of her before she completed her hat and we all think it looks like a Court Jesters hat. Timmy wants to make some that look just like these.

We read about Russian Religion in "Window on the World". Loved this. It was great reading it as it was written from the perspective after the fall of Soviet Rule. Our stories have been about life during Soviet Times, so it was nice to see how Russian's feel after the ending of the Soviet Rule.

We read a little about Marc Chagall. It was interesting to see what his life was like in younger years. And to show the kids how people of different religious beliefs were treated so differently. He was Jewish and all Jew's had to stay in what they called, "The Pale of Settlement". They couldn't leave this area with out permission. Jews were hated and persecuted for many centuries (still are in some areas).

Friday:

Play Day at our friend's house!

Last in the evening, Jessica pulled out her long overdue sewing project and began working on it again. She finished it up on Sat. morning. She did a fantastic job! Now she wants to purchase a kit and make one for her little niece.

I wish we would have did some sort of art study this week, but after all this was supposed to be Spring Break...

And that is our week in review at Jetihoja Academy. If you want to see pictures of our week, just view the slide show below. *Ü*

~*~ Have a wonderful weekend!~*~

Wordless Wednesday

2008-04-02T11:06:00.001-07:00

Auntie Jess and Niece Hailey (notice their facial expressions)

Here Kitty Kitty Kitty

A New Website: WEBLINK EDUCATION

2008-04-01T08:31:00.000-07:00

What is Weblink Education you ask? It is a website that will achieve favorite web links that were/are shared on WebLink Wednesdays . All of the links are ones that Mom's have visited first hand, use and or like.

Here is a sample what you'll find on the website:

* Arts and Craft Links
* Bible and Study Links
* Grammar Links
* History Links
* Language Arts Links
* Lapbooking Links
* Math Links

and so much more!

No more guessing if a site is for teachers only

No more wondering what a particular website offers

No more guessing if the material you're viewing is free or not

And no more jumping around from site to site to find something you need...

It's all done for YOU - by Homeschool Moms, like YOU.

All Weblinks are Mom tested and Mom approved!

Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival

2008-04-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

For those that don't know about this wonderful event, I just had to share with you all.

Head on over to Jimmies' blog One Child Policy to see the current Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival held on April 1, 2008.

There is a wide variety of information shared in the Carnival: Nature Studies, Art, Narrations, Children's behavior, Information on Charlotte Mason's idea's, & More.

Head on over with a cup of tea (or coffee) and settle down for some WONDERFULLY inspiring blog posts.

If you would like to view past carnival's, just click on the image above and it will direct you to the carnival's home page where past carnivals are held and future carnivals will be located.

Enjoy! *Ü*

2008-04-01T07:04:00.000-07:00

It's Alive!!!

Jessica and Holly both did a sketch Tuesday project this week.

Jessica drew our bird Coconut. She (our bird) is a Black Headed Africian Caique Parrot, using colored pencils. The bird is sitting in her pink bed. She sleeps in here and just loves her bed.

Holly drew a unicorn using water color crayons. Holly LOVES to draw horses.

If you would like to join Sketch Tuesday (4-15 is the next show: turn in sketch on 4-14) and/or see more wonderful sketches, please visit Barb at The Heart of Harmony for more information. Anyone can join! Next time the assignment is: Draw a Leaf!

Weekly Report

2008-03-28T08:27:00.000-07:00

(above: Jessica and Jake made lunch using Betty Crocker Kids Cookbook and a couple photo's for kids doing their work)

Another week has gone by... Where does the time go? Our week was busy and full. Here's what happened at Jetihoja Academy:

Regular subjects were done. Holly is struggling a bit on division. Seems she can't remember the steps to solve the problems although she has been doing division for a long time. Patience and review is all that is needed and I am sure this will turn around soon.

I picked up a really neat book from our local teacher supply store: Fun-Flap Facts Multiplication. I can't wait to make some copies and let the kids have fun with these. Basically you answer a problems (lets say 8x4=32) and then you open it up and it will give you a fun activity to do: Name as many veggies as you can in 32 seconds. HUM... wonder if they have one for division. Might be a perfect activity for Holly.

Monday:

We did our artist study on Monet. What a GREAT time we had. You can read all about our study HERE. We enjoyed it so much I was tempted to do another artist study this week, but I resisted... We did a review about him on Friday.

Tuesday:

We had our grand baby over for a visit for a few hours. She is just so cute and such a happy little girl. Jessica and Holly just love having her around. She looks so much like my son Michael (her daddy). It is amazing.

Jessica did her online Latin class and took her test on chapter 10. We will find the results out next week. She is loving this class still and is always saying things in Latin. She is great at letting us know what she is saying, though we are still clueless about the language.

Holly went to her art class. We put Holly in a local art school at the beginning of the month. She is always drawing, etc that we thought she would benefit from more lessons (other than Atelier) and learn from folks that really know about technique and can talk to her about it (I don't know much other than what I learn via Atelier). So far she has completed 2 projects: A Lizard (using pencils) and a Horse(using chalk). She entered both of them (only 1 will be chosen) in an art show that will be at our local mall. They will mat the art work and it will include a picture of her as well. We can't wait to go and see her work there along with a lot of other children work from that art school.

Wednesday:

Jessica went to my mom's work and collated the newsletter for the chamber. She loves volunteering there once a month. She always brings a friend with her and they all love going there too. The perk is that my mom always buys the kids an ice cream cone from a local deli when theya re finished with their job. Sometimes Holly or Timmy will go.

Thursday:

Co-op was a blast. Art class was wonderful. Jake and Holly painted a flower in the style of Georgia O'Keeffe. Each child got a flower and a vase to take home. It was a lot of fun. Timmy painted his clay walrus. He looks like that becasue its flipper fell off.

In Jake and Holly's Human Body class they had a guest come and talk to them: A Fireman. They really enjoyed this and shared a lot about it through out the day. It brought up some nice discussions on fire safety.

Zoology was fun too. We reviewed our reading section, did a notebooking page on the American Crow, filled in lapbooks, examined bird feathers (thank you Coconut), and did an experiment learning about how a birds wing is like a parachute for landing.

Friday:

Reviewed our artist of the week & went to on a play date with a couple other families. Jessica sent in her All About Me MLA assignment for her Home2Teach class. She starts up her online writing class again on Monday.

Oh and stay tuned for our Green Hour Challenge Assingment #6. I will post that later today or tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out what we have been up to at Jetihoja Academy!

~*~ Have a wonderful weekend~*~

Hearts and Trees: Mini Art Lesson

2008-03-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

This time we learned about Claude Monet: Water Lilies (The Clouds). What an amazing painter he was. He painted more than 250 paintings, was a leader in the impressionist movement, his painting "Water Lilies" sold last year for over 18 million pounds (close to 40 million US), he had cataracts in his later years in life and still painted, he loved painting landscapes and many of them are of the same scene, they are just painted at different times of the day or seasons, and so much more.

Here are some sites we really enjoyed during our study:

Looking at Art: Seeing Questions

At this site there is a list of different questions to discuss art: Describing It, Relate It, Analyze It, Interpret It, Evaluate It. This really helped me to ask the kids different questions about the painting we were looking at.

Garden of Praise

This site has a WONDERFUL biography about Monet. It also includes worksheets (you can use these for notebooking pages), pictures of Water Lilies to color, a jigsaw puzzle of this painting to do online, and so much more. I just loved this site. I am sure we will use it in the future as well.

Slide Show about Claude Monet

This slide show show 14 different art works done by Monet. Each page has information relating to the artwork and/or questions to ask about the art work shown. We just loved this.

There is another slide show listed here as well. It show 39 of his paintings, but no comments. It is beautiful just to look at all the different paintings with out any texts, and does play classical music.

What are we using as a guide for our art appreciation studies? We are using Heart and Trees Clouds Art Show: Mini Art Lessons notebooking set. We added a little more to our study, but Amanda's Notebooking Set really helped me to get this study going. Thank You Amanda!

She also has 2 other Art Shows: Winter Art Show & Ocean Art Show. She doesn't have notebooking pages for these art shows, but she does provide the art work, suggestions on what to ask/do, and web link suggestions.

After we did our online research of Claude Monet and his paintings we did our notebooking pages. The suggested activity on the notebooking page was to draw a reflection scence like Monet does his paintings. We used Water Color Crayons.

Thanks for stopping by and reading about our study on Claude Monet and his painting "Water Lilies (The Clouds)".

Sketch Tuesday: Something Blue

2008-03-25T08:33:00.000-07:00

Yeah! We remembered this week! Jessica decided to draw her piggy bank. I think it is adorable and this is coming from a pig lover. *Ü* She used water color crayons. These are so much fun to use.

If you would like to see more more blue sketches/drawings, please visit HERE.

For more information about Sketch Tuesday, please visit Barb at The Heart of Harmony. Next weeks assingment is: It's Alive!

Hearts and Trees: Mini Art Lesson

2008-03-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

We purchased Clouds in Art Mini Unit Study from Hearts and Trees. The first aritist we learned about in this study is Vincent Van Gogh and his painting Wheat Field Under Threatening Skies. We did our artist study yesterday, but ran out of time to do the art project. You can read about our artist study HERE.

In this post I want to share with you our art project. We were to create a picture with threatening clouds in the style of the painting we studied above. Here are some picture from today's art project. Timmy struggled with the idea of what to do at first, but he did a wonderful job. *Ü* They all did a wonderful job. *Ü*

And this one is mine:

Weekly Report:

2008-03-21T11:36:00.000-07:00

It has been a few weeks since I have posted an update. We have been pretty busy around here and had 1 week of almost no school (just the bare minimum got done) because I was so sick.

Nature Study

We seemed to get our Green Hour Challenges done each week. We have been having so much fun with these. You can go HERE to find out more about our nature studies. If you wanted to add more nature studies into your homeschooling, Barb at The Heart of Harmony has started these WONDERFUL challenges for us. We are LOVING these and are learning so much from them. They are easy enough to do and not intimidating like I thought they would be. Thank you {{Barb}}!

I picked up a couple neat books to read aloud to the kids: Owen & Mzee (wonderful true story about a baby hippo and a 130 year old tortoise and how they became friends) and Girls Who Looked Under Rocks.

Art Appreciation

We have started our Clouds in Art Mini Unit Study by Heart and Trees. We don't have a colored printer so I just sent in the pdf to the UPS Store and they made the copies for me and I went down and picked them up. They turned out lovely. We learned about Vincent Van Gogh and his painting Wheat Field Under Threatening Skies. We took some time to look at a few other paintings he did. My favorite was Wheatfield with Cypresses, c.1889 and Thatched Cottages at Cordeville is a close 2nd. I think I just love those colors and the style. They are very peaceful to me. The kids recognized a few of his other paintings from Atelier: Starry Night and The Bedroom at Arles.

Something I found amazing was that he painted so many paintings and only sold 1 while he was alive. It is hard for me to wrap my head around how he must have felt only selling 1 painting. "I" now want to learn more about this man to find out information such as this.

We were suppose to do the art activity with it, but Dad got home earlier then expected and took the Jessica and Timmy out dirt bike riding. So we will do this part tomorrow (Saturday). I will post this in another thread HERE.

Co-op

At Co-op, Jake and Holly have been learning tons about the Human Body. They did a project on the eye, created lungs, and more. They are always talking about different things about our body. For example, yesterday they were telling me they need to have wax in their ears and not to worry about removing it because our bodies naturally remove the wax all by itself. They were pretty firm saying, "You can't remove the wax in our ears, Mom.". Oh... Ok. *Ü* LOL

Jake, Holly, and Timmy have been busy creating wonderful art masterpieces at co-op as well. Jake and Holly did modified contour drawings of their classmates, clown paintings where they had to make a value scale using only black, white, and a color of their choice, and a fall farm landscape. Timmy was busy working on a crowd sport picture and is currently working on a clay animal creation. He will paint the animal next week and we will share pictures then.

At zoology we made bird feeder, homemade suet, identified different types of birds based on field markings, played a guessing game "What bird am I" where the kids had to use field guides to figure out what bird each team was, shared the migration route of a bird of their choice, and more. We are recording birds we see that are coming to the feeders the kids made. I am really enjoying this section of zoology because we are finally learning about birds. NO MORE INSECTS!

Miscellaneous

We read some books on St. Patrick's day:

We also planted a Amaryllis bulb indoors and watched it grow. We received this bulb for Christmas, but didn't plant it until sometime in February. Below are some pictures of this pretty flower. It finally fell over because of the weight, but it sure was pretty while it was standing up. This plant had 4 big beautiful flowers on it.
Here is a neat YouTube video that is time lasped and shows one growing. It was amazing. I saw it said something about the music (may be inappropriate), but I didn't have the music up load and couldn't really hear the words. You may want to mute it before watching the video. But man, the patients this person had to create this video. Amazing! I want to do this sometime. *Ü*

Here are a couple pictures from the past few week. First pictures is Timmy working on is Logic page, Second is Jessica's drawing of her cat Angel, and last is a picture of the kids during free time.

And of course we did regular "school" stuff.

Green Hour Challenge Assignment #5

2008-03-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

This week we took a walk around our backyard looking for signs of spring.Here is a LIST of what we found: * new bud growing on a Rhododendron Bush * Fig Tree: new fig growing * Rose Bushes: new buds forming * an unknown tree & bush (need to figure these out) with new buds * new flowers in full bloom * and ants scurrying all over their ant hill.

Here is a video of our ants. We watched them for a while and they were moving twigs and other things around on their nest. Boy are they busy little ants. Sorry I am not the best video person around... but this will give you a general idea of what they are doing.

It just finished raining and we headed outside to see what the ants nest is up to. Here is what we saw:

We decided to learn more about our precious little friend, the ant. We have determined they are Western Thatching Ants. We read the information at this link and were amazed at all it told us about our ant friends. We know they are beneficial ants and help to contral the insect population. I LOVE THEM. LOL We read the section in Handbook of Nature Study where Anna talks about Ants (pg 369-373). The discussion questions she provides are wonderful. I think I am finally understanding how to use this book. I asked the kids what they have seen the ants eat and they said: worms, tomato's, different types of ants, sow bugs, part of a flower, & spider. Here is their notebooking page they did:

On a different note, here is some nature journaling Holly and Jake did on the Western Gray Squirrel:

We made a list of things we would like to learn about in our yard: * Ants * Fig Tree * Rhododendron's * Tree in the front yard (don't know the name) * Birds that visit our yard (so far we have Mountain Chickadee & Steller's Jay) * Insects

To view more Green Hour Challenges, click HERE. If you would like to participate in these challenges, it isn't to late. You can join at any time. Just click HERE to learn more about Green Hour Challenges.

Wordless Wednesday: Holly's is 9 Year's Old!

2008-03-18T23:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday HOLLY!

Here is a little slide show of some photo's of my little girl. I couldn't find any on my computer (they are all on Daddy's computer) of her under 3 years of age. So these are a mix of her from 3 to 8 years old.

Have a wonderful Wordless Wednesday Everyone!

HOAC Lapbook Freebies: Amelia Earhart & The History of Sports

2008-03-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

In the Hands of a Child has put out another wonderful freebie lapbook for all of us to enjoy: Amelia Earhart.

This lapbook is geared for grades 3-7, but can easily be adapted for older or younger children. It included a 7 page research guide and 15 hands on activities. If you want to see what it looks like, just download the free sample located at the site above.

Hurry, this Lapbook Project Pack is only available as a freebie until June 16, 2008.

And if you're a Super Member at HOAC, the monthly freebie is: Simple Machines. This one looks WONDERFUL too! *Ü*

AND

I just saw that Curr. Click has a HOAC Freebie for this week too: The History of Sports! WAHOO! Lots of lapbook freebies! This one is a Multi-Level Project Pack and includes an 11 page research guide on Basketball, Football, Soccer, & Baseball and 21 hands on activities. Hurry, this freebie will expire 3-24-08.

-----------------------------------------

Some information that came across another yahoo group:

A&E Classroom Programming Biography:

Amelia Earhart: Queen of the Air:

Thursday, March 27th at 4am/3c

She was an uncommon heroine, a legendary aviator and the center of one of the greatest mysteries of modern time. A daredevil and an innovator, Amelia Earhart always knew she would make her mark in history. Even as she was smashing aviation records, her unconventional short hair, pants and leather jackets had already made her an icon. Amelia Earhart: Queen of the Air provides an unforgettable look at the woman who lived her life with "no regrets"—the unstoppable Amelia Earhart.

Between solo trips across the Atlantic and ticker tape parades down the streets of New York City, Earhart was one of the most well-known public figures of the early 20th century, during a time when few women ever made the press. But her remarkable story ends in tragic mystery.On the last leg of her legendary around-the-world jaunt, her plane disappeared into the blinding fog and she was never seen or heard from again. As the nation mourned the loss of a true American hero, Amelia Earhart went down in history as not only an aviation pioneer, but as a woman who refused to let her gender keep her grounded. This Biography would be an excellent companion for course units on women's history and for lectures on the affects of aviation on 20th century transportation and culture.

Curriculum Links:

Amelia Earhart: Queen of the Air would be useful for classes on American History, Science and Technology, and for course units on Women's History. It is appropriate for middle school and high school students.

Teacher's Guide Available: HERE

Related Video Clips Available: HERE

Honor the prominent women of the world, past and present, in this exclusive Women in World History Set: HERE

Green Hour Challenge Assignment #4

2008-03-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

We were supposed to meet with our dear friends on Monday, but we pushed it off to Tuesday due to me being sick. That day didn’t work either. We will just meet next Monday for Green Hour Challenge #5. My kids were bummed, but I assured them we would still do some sort of walk outside this week, even though I am a bit under the weather.

I have to admit, this Challenge #4 left me feeling like I didn’t quite know what to do. I like guidance. Tell me what to do and I will do it. But give me a “Focus Area” assignment, and I am unsure of what to do next. I talked about this with the kids, giving examples of what a “Focus Area” might include. We decided on birds this time around since that is what we are learning about in Zoology 1.

But then as Monday evening drew near, I had another idea. I asked the kids, “What to you think if our “Focus Area” is our backyard? We could go around looking for things in our own yard we would like to learn more about. Turn over some rocks, look up what type of plants we have, etc.” They all liked that idea, though Holly didn’t want to see what creatures live under the rocks. LOL My little girly girl.

So how am I going to accomplish this challenge, when I feel the way I do. Here is what I decided to do:

Monday: We did our Cattails notebooking page. Here is Jessica’s page:

In the morning, we watched a squirrel jump on one of the bird feeders the kids made and down went the feeder and the gray squirrel. Poor little guy ran up the tree so fast. Here is a picture of the gray squirrel resting at the top of the dead tree that is next to the tree the feeder was hanging from:

We also discovered that the Western Gray Squirrel was put on the threatened species list in 1993 here in Washington State. We have so many of them around us, I never knew this bit of information before. The kids were amazed as well. We will be journaling about this furry friend in a few days.

Jessica spotted a bird at our feeder and she quickly grabbed the bird chart and figured out it was a Mountain Chickadee based on the types of field marking it had.

Later in the evening Timmy and Jessica said they both would like to spend some time outside just drawing in their nature journals, trying to figure out what type of birds we have in our area. I told them that sounded good to me, as long as it isn’t raining. Sketch books and rain don’t mix. They laughed and said, “Yes, mom.”

Wednesday: I sent the kids (we had a couple extra friends join in the fun) outside on a nature scavenger hunt. After an allotted amount of time, they brought their treasures back on the deck and we talked about what each team found. We used a really neat poem I found online and then created a notebooking page with it.

And there you have it. Short and simple… I think I am really going to like this “Focus Area” assignment after all.

(NOTE: Head on over to The Heart Of Harmony's Green Hour Challenges to see other wonderful posts and/or to join in the fun!)

Sketch Tuesday: Dinner Plates

2008-03-11T07:22:00.000-07:00

Here is Jessica's Sketch Tuesdays submission. I just knew she would pick this special plate.

She made this plate a while ago at a local ceramic shop. On this plate is her pride and joy, Angel. She also went back another time and made a bowl to match the plate. She wants to go back again and make a mug to match her set of dishes.

Here is what the orignal plate looks like:

If you would like to join Sketch Tuesday, or see more Dinner Plate sketches, please visit HERE for more information. Anyone can join.

Next week's assignment is: Sketch something with Legs. *Ü*

Free Mini Lesson on Cattails

2008-03-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks we have been participating in a wonderful Green Hour Challenge hosted by Barb at The Heart of Harmony. Our family has been heading outdoors on a regular basis to discover the wonderful world around us.

Part of this challenge is to take short walks with my children. During a couple different outings we have seen a plant that is pretty familiar to our family: The Cattail. The kids have grown up seeing this plant at Grandma and Grandpa's house, but we never knew much about it. When we returned home from one of our walks, we decided to take a closer look at this marvelous plant.

I created a mini lesson on Cattails for my children and want to share it. It includes a notebooking page where you label the parts of a cattail, as well as a few lines for other information, such as, where you would find them at, how big they get, etc.

There is also a section where you can fill in the blank with the many interesting facts about the uses of the Cattail plant. It is amazing what folks over the years have done with this plant. For example, the Native Americans used to roast the flower of the Cattail and eat it like corn on the cob. YUM... or maybe not... LOL

There are a couple links provided to help fill in the blanks on the notebook page. And with one of the links, there is a very neat science experiment using the Cattail.

CATTAIL MINI LESSON

The link can also be found underneath the Green Hour Challenge Logo on the right side bar of this blog. A picture of the notebooking page can be found in a post HERE.

Happy Nature Studying!

California Homeschooling Court Ruling

2008-03-07T11:56:00.000-08:00

Wow... I can't believe this is happening to homeschooling families in California. I don't know everything about this issue, but I am praying for all those homeschooling families and for other homescholing families across our country.

Dr. Dobson has interrupted his regularly scheduled program to talk specifically about this situation. He has 4 special guests on this show. To listen, please go HERE.

My mom also sent this newspaper article to me.

HSLDA has a petition to sign as well. Please head on over and sign this petition.

Please, please pray for these families, the legislation, and our government.

World's Tallest Snowman!

2008-03-07T10:25:00.001-08:00

Wow, you have to check out this link to see the World's Tallest Snowman (2008), located in Bethel, Maine.

Timmy says, "That is a pretty big scarf!"

Jake was shocked that they used tree's for the arms.

The girls were just left chuckling and speechless.

Head on over and check it out!

Green Hour Challenge Assignment #3

2008-03-05T10:22:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful Nature Study we had a this week. I am really enjoying the fact that "I" am heading out to enjoy the great outdoors with my beautiful children. And the bonus is I get to spend extra special time with my friend {{Lisa}} and her wonderful girls.

While I was reading our Green Hour#3 assignments, I ran across something that really spoke to me. I want to share what I read from Handbook of Nature Study:

"... and these (children's nature journal drawings) were universally so excellent that most people regarded them as an exhibition from the art department; and yet many of these pupils never had had lessons in drawing. They had learned to draw because they liked to make pictures of the living objects which they had studied." pg 17

"Too much have we emphasized drawing as an art; it may be an art, if the one who draws is an artist; but if he is not an artist, he still has a right to draw if it pleases him to do so. We might as well declare that a child should not speak unless he put his words into poetry, as to declare that he should not draw because his drawing are not artistic." pg 17

We were asked some optional questions in regards to Nature Studies. Here are my responses:

1. Has it changed since starting these challenges? YES. I never got around to doing this before. Always wanted to, but didn't. I really appreciate having something to guide me to accomplish this "subject" I have always wanted to do with the kids, but never got around to it.

2. Are you committed to keeping up your Green Hour time because you see the benefits stacking up in your family? YES. Last night while I was tucking Jake into bed he asked if we could go on another nature walk tomorrow. They love this time out. I love this time out with them. I see a desire steering with in my children to want to learn about God's wonderful world.

3. Have you started keeping your own nature journal or photo album of you experiences outdoors with your children? Yes. I did my first journal sketch this week. I plan on adding pictures from our walk into their nature journals and/or notebooks. And dream of all dreams, I hope to scrapbook our nature walks. If anything, this blog is a virtual scrapbook.

Now onto the happen'ins of our Nature Walk. We meet at the Clear Creek Trail, but this time it we walked the middle section of the trail. One more Clear Creek Trail meeting and we have walked the whole trail. YIPPEE! And then we will go to a new place for our nature walks. We are blessed to live in an area with lots of wonderful places to go nearby. Or we could even head out our door too. We don't have to go anywhere, we just enjoy these outings, especially with another family.

Here are a few things we heard on our walk: birds chirping, creek flowing, frogs croaking, people talking (oops, must have been mom), & the wind.

Here are some things we saw: frog, bird, 2 dogs, people, grass, tree, many different plants.

Here are some things we touched: Fuzzy leaves, hard acorns, slimy frogs, rocks, trees, wood, water, flowers, people (ok... I must let you know that this is Timmy giving this answer each time... LOL), and moss.

Holly & Timmy wanted to learn more about the tree frog. We discovered (from reading HNS pg 177), that they don't have suction cups on the ends of their toes like we all thought. In fact they secrete a substance from the little round disks at the end of their toes that allow them to cling vertically to surfaces. We never knew that.

UPDATE 3-7-08: Jake wants to learn more about his acorn he found. Ok we know it is from an oak tree. Surprise, surprise. LOL But which one... It is hard to tell. What I am learning is that we need to look a the leaves from which the acron has fallen off of. And look at the bark, etc. We will just have to go back and take a closer look to help us identify it.

UPDATE: 3-7-08: Jessica wants to learn more about cattails. She wanted know how tall a Cattail can get. The type we have in our area is called a "Common Cattail" and can grow 5-9 feet tall. She also did a fun fact: The speices of CA, TX, Mexico, and Argentina can grow to be about 18 feet high! WOW! She also went onto draw one in her sketch journal and is adding her information to her journal page.

* We read a couple books: Crinkleroot's Visit to Crinkle Cove (wonderful read aloud book) & Crinkleroot's 25 More Animals Every Child Should Know.
* I had the kids lay out their treasures on colored paper and I took a picture of them. I will add this picture to their nature journal or notebook in a few days. They had so much fun looking at each item again and arranging them in their own special way so we could capture this memory with a picture. And this is a great way to record all their treasures they brought home.
* Each child picked an item out and we placed them in a book to be pressed. We will add them to their nature journals after they are done drying. (for more information read blog comments)
* We filled out our notebooking pages and did a little journaling in our nature journals .

Below is a slide show of our Nature Walk and Journal time at home.

To read more wonderful Nature Walk Adventures, please visit Barb's Blog at The Heart of Harmony, Green Hour Challenges.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wordless Wednesday: Uncle Jake and Niece Hailey

2008-03-04T23:42:00.000-08:00

For more Wordless Wednesday's, check out the Well Trained Mind.

Sketch Tuesday: Fruit Bowl

2008-03-04T09:53:00.000-08:00

Here is Jessica's Sketch Tuesday drawing. She use water color crayons once again. She really enjoys using these.

I decided to do this one too, using colored pencils. Jessica and I both sat down on the couch, placed the bowl of fruit (which she arragned) on a TV tray, and spent some time drawing together. I would look at her sketch for techniques, she would look at mine, etc. It was a wonderful time.

If you would like to join Sketch Tuesday, or see more fruit sketches, please visit HERE for more information. Anyone can join. Next week's assignment is: Draw your dinner plate....with or without food on it. Oh... I bet I know know which one Jessica will choose. *Ü*

Weekly Report: Week 20

2008-03-01T11:03:00.000-08:00

20 Down, 16 More To Go!

It has been a few weeks since I have posted a report. I sure miss posting about our homeschool happenings, but time just slips by and I don't schedule in the time to accomplish this task.

The month of February has been filled with fun outings for the kids.

We have been to the Woodland Park Zoo with other WTM families. For photo's see Wordless Wednesday 2-20-08. I can't wait until our next outing with these wonderful people.

Went with another family to see Dan Parker (click HERE to see a video about him)who is 1 of 6 certified Lego Certified Professional in the WHOLE world. His store, City Blocks, is located in Freighthouse Square, a huge old building (3 blocks long). He is a full time Lego artist and his shop is in Tacoma, WA. It was amazing to see what the folks at the store create. There was a Statue of Liberty that was taller than me, a replica of the Space Needle that was as tall as Jessica, they were working on a Lego sign that was a picture of a TV show host Jane Pauley's face, and so much more.

Our friends son ask Mr. Parker what he would have to do to be professional Lego designer when he grew up. Mr. Parker's reply was:

* get good grades in school
* read about all sorts of different things so that you have a good knowledge base
* study mechanical things
* don't just work with Legos, experiment with woodworking, painting, etc.
* design things that aren't of interest to you (he specifically told him to make a mosaic of a rainbow and flowers and he told him to make a model of a pink My Little Pony)

Here is more information about him and a couple other picutres we took that day:

We also stopped by an Russian Market to see the different types of food is sold in Russia. It was really neat experience, but I felt like I was in a different land because everyone else was talking Russian, I couldn't read any of the labels, and folks were looking at me a little strangely because I was taking pictures of things in the store. LOL Here are a couple pictures form the market.

Went on a nature walk with another family. See Green Hour Challenge #2 . We also did a little nature walk in our backyard: Green Hour Challenge #1 .

Attended a Leap Year Party. The kids made Leap Year cards, filled them out with things they enjoyed, what they might be doing in 4 years, etc. and the host of the party will mail these to the kids in 4 years (the next Leap Year). What a neat idea! We played a dice game (goal is to get to 29 w/o going over), went fishing, the boys played a little football in the rain, and more. It was a wonderful get together.

One subject/activity we have because since our last weekly report is: Green Hour Challenges by Barb at The Heart of Harmony. If you have wanted to add nature studies to your routine, but just don't quite know how to go about accomplishing this activity, are intimidated by them, or think adding something like this would take up to much time out of your day(s), you must check out these challenges. She assigns some reading pages from Handbook of Nature Study and also provides an assignment to accomplish for your nature walk. All you need is 10-15 min. to do your nature walk. To find out more, check out Green Hour Challenges.

BTW, if you would like to add some nature notebooking pages to these assignments, I have created some for my children and would love to share them with you HERE. To see our Green Hour Challenges, click HERE.

What about our core subject??

Jessica completed her report on the Green Sea Turtle for her Home2Teach online writing class. If you would like to read her report, click HERE.

I haven't shared the kids artwork in ages. There masterpieces are in the slide show below.

With Zoology, we are finally finished with insects (YEAH!!!), and are now learning about birds. I am sooooo happy. A couple pictures from class are included in the slide show below.

And here are a few other pictures from weeks gone by:

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful weekend!

Green Hour Challenge Assignment #2

2008-02-27T09:41:00.000-08:00

For Green Hour Challenge #2, hosted by Barb over at The Heart of Harmony, we hooked up with the wonderful family from Koinonia Academy and meet them at Clear Creek Trail. This trail is very large and we decided to break it up into 3 sections. This time we visited the southern part of the trail which included Dyes Inlet and played on the beach for a while.

My Assignment/Thoughts:

Part of our (parent) assignment was do read different sections of of Handbook of Nature Study. I am soaking up all the reading I am doing and am LOVING it. I also read the Optional Assignment which goes into greater detail on how to use the book HNS to it's fullest. What "I" need to work on now is to call the things we learn about by their names, such as parts of a tree, plant, etc. I have some learning to do myself. I need to make a couple cheat sheets and keep them with me as we go on our walks so when the kids spot a flower I can pull it out and ask them what color is the corolla, what color are the leaves of the spray on that tree, etc. This will be my major assignment over the next few weeks, or months, or how ever long it takes me to remember the names. *Ü*

Here are some quotes from the book I wanted to share.

Page 15: "Certain questions and lines of investigation should be given the pupils before starting and given in such a manner as to make them thoroughly interested in discovering the facts."

Page 23: "Make the lesson and investigation and make the pupils feel that they are investigators." and "If the questions do not inspire the child to investigate, they are useless."

I veered off the reading assignment and read about, "The Field Notebook". It has some great pointers about keeping a Field Notebook. Here are some tidbits of the pointers:

a. "The book should be considered the personal property of the child and should never be criticized by the teacher except as a matter of encouragement."
b. "The making of drawing to illustrate what is observed should be encouraged."
c. "The notebook should not be regarded as port of the work in English." (don't correct spelling, grammar, etc.)
d. "As occasion offers, outlines for observing certain plants or animals may be placed in the notebook." (this one is a must for me... I can't remember everything and having a page with the top things to achieve really helps me in accomplishing our goals)
e. "No child should be compelled to have a notebook." (This one I was a little puzzled with. .. After all, I want my children to have a sketch book, field guide, and journal. I made neat notebooking pages, etc. and by golly they are going to do it. LOL *Ü* But really, what this point spoke to me to me is that it shouldn't be forced. If they don't want to draw, write down their findings, etc. don't force it. Maybe this week (or 2 or 3), might be their week(s) when they don't want to record information, etc. And that is ok. I say again for my own acknowledgement/reinforcement... That is ok! It isn't like we would stop our nature study because they don't want to record anything in their journal. I know they are learning as we are out walking and observing. For me, the notebooking pages are just there as prompts to record their findings. And not all sections are filled out by each child. And... That is ok! )

With that covered, now I will share our finding from Assignment #2:

We started off our day with some time at the beach where they had a blast over turning rocks (and turned them back over again) to see what creatures were hiding under them. Then we headed into the mouth of the creek (where the fresh and salt water meet). There were all types of plants here and lots of birds. Here is a slide show of our day:

One word descriptions of what they heard: Tweet (Holly, Timmy & Jake), Splashing (Jessica)

Two word description of what they saw: Bird Nest (Timmy), Gray Heron (Jake), Clam Shells (Holly), flying birds (Jessica)

Three word description of something they felt: Soft White Sand (Timmy), Fast Moving Crabs (Jake), Tall Tall Tree (Holly), Fuzzy Pussy Willows (Jessica)

Jessica wanted to learn more about the Pussy Willow by discovering how it got the name "Pussy Willow". Click HERE to learn more about it. For her notebooking page she drew a picture of the waves splashing on the rocks. She also drew a Pussy Willow branch with pollen (closer look) in her sketch book.

Timmy wanted to learn more about crabs. We discovered the type of crabs he saw are Purple Shore Crabs. He drew a picture on his notebooking page of an army of crabs running away trying to hide under a rock again.

Holly wanted to learn about The Great Blue Heron. She read more about this bird in the Smithsonian Kids' Field Guides: Birds of North America West. For her notebook page, she drew one perched on a branch looking for its food below. She also drew one in her sketch book and labeled the parts.

Jake wanted to find out the type of clam shells he brought home with him. After our research, we found they are called Native Little Neck or Steamer Clams. He also drew a picture on his notebook page to show the inside of the clams. They have a purple tint around the outside edges.

To read more wonderful Green Hour Challenges for Assignment #2 click HERE.

Wordless Wednesday: No Smell Version

2008-02-26T20:53:00.000-08:00

For more Wordless Wednesdays, check out the the

Well Trained Mind Board.

Sketch Tuesday: State of Mind

2008-02-26T08:02:00.000-08:00

Here is Jessica's picture that represents something from the state of Washington. I am sure we don't have blue Rhodies here, but she wanted one (her favorite color), and asked me if it was ok to make a flower blue. I said go for it.

She use watercolor crayons to make her drawing.

If you would like to join Sketch Tuesday head on over to Barb's blog and find out the details. Next week's sketch is A Bowl of Fruit (draw a piece of fruit). Anyone can join, young and old alike.

Quiz: What Type of Mother Hen Are You?

2008-02-24T02:12:00.000-08:00

What type of Mother Hen Are You?
by Montessorimom.com: Educational Resource

Patricia over at Classical Education Our Way posted this neat quiz at her blog. I just "had" to see what type I was. What type are you?

Green Hour Challenge Assignment #1

2008-02-24T00:07:00.000-08:00

Barb from The Heart of Harmony as started this wonderful nature study challenge: Green Hour Challenge. If you have wanted to do nature studies with your children, but always seemed to put them off for one reason or another, this challenge is for you.

One thing (among many) I really appreciate is the fact that she is teaching us how to use Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock (here is a free downloadable version). I had this book for quite some time, but the size scared me to death. Barb is suggesting a few pages at a time from different sections of the book. It really is giving me a better understanding what a Nature Study is all about.

Here are a few quotes that stuck out to me, encouraged me, and inspired me:

"Nature-study cultivates in the child a love of the beautiful."

"Nature-study cultivates the child's imagination, since there are so many wonderful and true stories that he may read with his own eyes..."

"...more than all, nature-study give the child a sense of companionship..."

"In nature-study any teacher can with honor say, "I do not know"; for perhaps the question asked is as yet unanswered by the great scientists."

"Moreover, the teacher, in confessing her ignorance and at the same time her interest in a subject, establishes between herself and her pupils a sense of companionship which relieves the strain of discipline, and give her a new and intimate relation with her pupils which will surely prove a potent element in her success."

There was more I underlined or highlighted, but those above really stuck out to me.

For this assignment we went into our back yard and wondered around for about 10-15 min look at different items from nature that might be of interest to the kids. Is there a plant they see and they wonderful what the name is? How long does it take for a tree to grow? What tree does this leaf come from? And other possible questions.

I created notebooking pages for this assignment (and have assignments 2 notebooking page already done as well). This way they will keep a nature journal about our nature studies. I will place them in a 3 ring notebook and divide up the notebook into sections: Plants, Trees, Animals, Birds, Insects, etc...

Here were our results...

Timmy:

Question 1: What did you see: leaves, tree, rock, & grass
Question 2: What was interesting about them: He left this area blank. When I asked him about this verbally, he said, "Mom, it is my backyard. I play here all the time and didn't see anything new." Ok... Think to myself... He has a point there, but we will work on different approaches to seeing things as we go along on our nature studies.
Question 3: Did you bring anything back with you? No
Question 4: What would you like to investigate further? The Fig Tree
Question 5: What did you discover? Common Fig : Figs were a common foodsource for the Romans and were used to fatten geese.

Here is a picture of him hanging from one of the branches of the fig tree. And yes, it produces a ton of figs. Unfortunately a lot of them go to waste. I can't get past the part of what they look like when you open them up. YUCK!

Jessica:

Question 1: What did you see: grass, wisteria, pond, rocks

Question 2: What was interesting about what you saw? Grass-There was a lot of it. Wisteria- had no leaves on it and it looked dead. Pond- had not that much water in it. Rocks- they were around the pond.

Question 3: Did you bring anything back with you? A small branch with buds and a leaves attached to it.

Question 4: What would you like to investigate further? What color are ht buds when they bloom & what is the name of the plant

Question 5: What did you discover? ~~It is the flower buds of a White Lilac.~~

Ok after I went outside to varify the plant type, I know it isn't a lilac. I will have to search for the "real" name. This is a learning process for us all. :o)

~~We have finally figured out what this lovely plant is offically called. This is a Cliftonia Monophylla. We also have that has redish belled flowers. They are very pretty when they are in full bloom.~~

Ok... 3rd time is a charm, right. After searching through more books on nature study and identifying, we are almost certain this is a (drum roll please...), a Japanese andromdeda (Pieris).

Holly:
Question 1: What did you see: leaf, new sprouts coming up from the ground
Question 2: What was interesting about them: Buds-They were dark green
Question 3: Did you bring anything back with you? No
Question 4: What would you like to investigate further? Find out the name of the flower
Question 5: What did you discover? This is a Mealy Cup Sage, will have purple flower spikes; blooms spring, summer, fall; shear occasionally; full sun; 2 to 3 feet.

Jake:
Question 1: What did you see: leaf & tree
Question 2: What was interesting about them: leaf- it was green.
Question 3: Did you bring anything back with you? No
Question 4: What would you like to investigate further? Find out the name of the tree
Question 5: What did you discover? This is a Rubber Tree/Plant.

For Green Hour Challenge #2, we will be heading the the Clear Creek Trail with some friends.

PS: If anyone would like a copy of my notebooking page, you can download them by clicking the link below the Green Hour Challenge Logo on the right side bar, or Here to get to them directly.

My Favorite Homeschool Product(s)

2008-02-22T09:16:00.000-08:00

It is Friday Meme time again at The Heart of the Matter. This weeks Meme is: Your Favorite Homeschool Product. Below are some of my favorite things I use/need for homeschooling.

My Laptop and the Internet. I don't know how I could do what I do with homeschooling with out either. Love e-books, making notebook pages or lapbook pages, chatting with other homeschoolers all over the world, and more.

With the love of my laptop comes my treasured item: 1,000 copy punch card at the UPS Store . I couldn't live without this... Honestly, I am there at least once a week making my copies for a notebooking project, lapbooking project, or other needed copies to do activities with the kids. Of course I use my printer for smaller printing jobs, but when I need multiple copies of 1 page (for lapbooks and other larger printing projects), this is a MUST have for me. I need I also use a separate one for my co-op classes. Copies are only 3.5 cents ($35 for the punch card), it eliminates wear and tear on my printer, and I can always swing by Java Joint for a coconut Latte while I am out. That is a BIG bonus! *Ü* (sorry no pictures because they keep it there at the store so I won't loose it. LOL )

While reading other homeschoolers lists of their favorite products, I have to agree, our wipe off board is a must. I wish I had a bigger one, but we don't have room for it here.

My cubbie corner. It holds my laptop (but can be easily moved to the table), has some "core" items I use underneath it, and my storage caddie is right next to it. In here I have pens, pencils, markers, highlighters, stapler, hole punch, scissors, pencil sharpener, tape, magazines, educational cds, audio we use for learning, and so much more. I don't have to get up and search for anything (well unless the kids removed something w/o permission that is *Ü* ). I couldn't imagine not having this wonderful tool by me.

What is your favorite Homeschool Product?

Wordless Wednesday: A Trip To The Zoo

2008-02-20T09:01:00.000-08:00

For more Wordless Wednesdays, checkout the the Well Trained Mind Board.

Sketch Tuesday: My Bed

2008-02-19T13:08:00.000-08:00

Here is Jessica's view of her bed. To see what other submitted for their drawing click HERE.

If you would like to join in next weeks Sketch Tuesday (something that represents the state you live in), make sure to check out The Heart of Harmony's blog. Anyone can join!

Contest: Lyrical Earth Science

2008-02-18T09:55:00.000-08:00

Over at MamaArcher's Blog she is hosting a giveaway: Homeschool Giveaway --Lyrical Earth Science . This curriculum looks really neat. Head on over to her blog to learn more about this curr. and for information on how to enter into the contest. Best of luck to you!

New Site: The Homeschool Lounge & Contest

2008-02-18T08:24:00.000-08:00

The Homeschool Lounge is a FREE online social network community for Homeschool Moms; the very first of its kind! The vision of The Homeschool Lounge is to connect Homeschool Moms from all corners of the web; get advice, give advice, share, learn and laugh with those who truly understand you. There is something for everyone inside the many pages of this pioneer website so go check it out!

Site Features Include:
Create your own space
Start or join discussions in our Forum
Start or join a group
Start a Blog or Promote an existing Blog
Create a slide show widget of your pictures for your blog
Photo Gallery
Video Gallery
Live Chat
Invite other Homeschool Moms, friends and family
Members only community ~ All members, all videos and pictures must be approved and only the front page of our site can be viewed by the public for the safety and comfort of our homeschool moms.

Now for the contest information:

Everyone that shares the news about The Homeschool Lounge on their blogs or websites will be entered into a drawing for a giving away of two $25 Amazon gift cards to randomly picked winners! All you have to do is post about post about The Homeschool Lounge on your blog and leave a comment letting them know you did so!

Make sure you go back to this blog: Less of Me~ More of Him and post a comment that you shared this on your blog. This is the final step (after you post about on your blog of course) to entering in the contest. Best of luck for winning!

Award: Blogging With A Purpose

2008-02-14T18:58:00.000-08:00

Lisa at Kiononia Academy blessed me this evening with this wonderful award... Thanks so much, Lisa, I feel very special that you would have thought of me. I am... blessed!

Rules:

1. Awarded parties must nominate five people who have not received the award.

2. The blogs that receive the award must serve some purpose.

3. In their post about the award they need to link back to this entry.

4. Awarded parties must post the award banner on their site. The banner must remain linked to this site.

Oh man, there are a more blogs than just 5 I would love to give this award to. I am hoping that it will eventually end up at those wonderful blogs. Here are the 5 I have chosen to give this award to:

Tressa at Tressays: This is a person that I not only know in blog land, but in person. I am blessed to know her and her wonderful children. I really enjoy visiting her blog. She writes from her heart and shares her thoughts in an engaging, wonderful way.

Tami at Ambleside Classical: Tami is one of the first blogging friends I made when I first started blogging. I am blessed by her wonderful posts, how she encourages other homeschoolers, and is so willing to share her thoughts/ideas/lesson plans with other homeschoolers.

Lee at My5WolfCubs: This woman is an amazing artist! She is a wonderful encourager, does wonderful projects with her children, and is extremely inspiring.

Susan at Short on Words: Oh my... Just one look at her blog and you will be inspired! She definitely has a purpose and a true gift. Every time I visit her blog I am inspired to take better pictures. Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful gift with others.

Daisy at Lesser Road Academy and Mom, What's for Dinner: Wow, one look at either of her blogs and you know she has a purpose. She shares her wonderful homeschool activities with us all and her love for cooking.

As I said before, it was hard to only choose 5... I have met some of the most wonderful folks in blog land. I am inspired by many other blogs. Thanks you everyone for sharing your heart, life, and home education with others. I am truly blessed.

Wordless Wednesday: Holly's Cat Castle Creation

2008-02-13T12:18:00.000-08:00

Inside of the box is a pillow Holly made for her dad as a Christmas gift, which she reclaimed for the kitties. *Ü* This box is so tiny, but the cats just LOVE sleeping in it. Holly feels very proud of herself for making something the cats just love.

Insect Lore

2008-02-12T11:47:00.000-08:00

Oh I just LOVE the stuff from this company. Today I received their catalog. There is so much I want to order. The kids and I looked through the catalog and here is a list of things we wish we could get:

Praying Mantis Habitat Set

Earthworm Nursery

Diary of a Worm DVD

Beetle Barn

Carnivorous Creations

Triops (Jessica would like this. I think they look pretty gross...)

Animal Soundtracks Lotto Game (Kids might be a little old for this, but I just think it would be fun to guess the animals by the sounds it makes. "I" want to play this one!)

Owl Pellet Kit (we will get this no matter what for our Zoology 1 study)

It is so fun to create a wish list of things to get. And they also have a Bargain Basement Section! Now only if money grew on trees.

BTW, they have games and other free activities at the site as well. Head on over to check it out.

Sketch Tuesday: Something Made of Wood

2008-02-12T09:12:00.000-08:00

Jessica sketched another great picture for Sketch Tuesday. She is really enjoying this project. If you would like to particapte please go HERE for more information. Anyone can join, Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Brothers, Sisters, etc.

As I was searching Barb's blog (I just love her blog... so much to learn about there), I ran across another link to some wonderful art video's to watch. She shares her knowledge on using different types of mediums (colored pencils, oil pastels, etc.). This is a definite must see for those that want to learn more about different types of mediums to use.

HOAC Lapbook Freebie

2008-02-11T23:36:00.000-08:00

For this week only (ending 2-18), Homeschollestore is giving away In The Hands of a Child's Mary Cassatt Lapbook. This is a wonderful lapbook for an artisit appreication study. Head on over to Homeschoolestore to get your free lapbook.

Project Pack Details:

Mary Cassatt was an American painter during the late 1800’s. Your student can complete a lapbook on one of the first impressionists in history with the Project Pack from In the Hands of a Child. This 56-page unit includes a 9-page Research Guide with information about Mary’s childhood, family, and her experiences as an artist as well as examples of her work. In addition, you will find 17 hands-on activities to help your student learn about this famous woman!

Jessica: CPR Certification

2008-02-10T12:17:00.000-08:00

Jessica is now CPR certified. Please help us congratulate her.

WAY TO GO JESS!

She knows this will help her when she is babysitting (we will also be putting her in a babysitting class). And when she gets older, she would like to get a job at our local pool as a life guard.

Update on Timmy's Arm

2008-02-10T12:10:00.000-08:00

What a long, long journey we have had with is arm. I am very happy to let you all know that he has completed physical therapy and no longer needs to visit the Dr. YEAH! Praise God!!

He will still need to work on his exercises at home to get his hand to turn over upright. I believe the degree is now close to 70 and a normal person is at a 90. So he isn't far off any more.

The muscle at his wrist wasn't used for 3 months; therefore it has become weak and doesn't want to turn. But with his at home exercises, the Physical Therapist thinks he should be pretty close to normal in about 6 months.

Thank you everyone for all your thoughts and prayers!

Weekly Report

2008-02-08T09:36:00.001-08:00

This week was a bit of a blur... I haven't been feeling myself at all this week (feeling a little under the weather). But with that said, I did get some things accomplished this week after all.

Monday we visited with some friends. We called this day "Social Day". What an adventure this day was. I was driving down the highway heading to our friend's house and my battery light came on. I called Greg and he said to return home right away. Jake was in tears because he wanted to visit with his friend. Well... Mr. Timmy had the smart idea (he later said he couldn't believe the parents didn't think of it... Ok 1 up on us LOL ), of having them come to our house instead. That worked for them and we had a wonderful time visiting and are looking forward to the next time.

Friday, we took Jessica and Holly to see Romeo and Juliette ballet at the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Another big treat of the night was eating dinner at the Metropolitan Grill (if you live in the Seattle area, this is a must go to restaurant) before we went to the ballet. And as a bonus, we were surprised with dinner guests, Uncle Jerry and Aunt Natalie.

Now to the fun school things:

Russia Study:

We worked on our vocabulary words, read about the people of Russia, began learning about the Mongols, read a Russia Folk Tale, and read a story about a Christian family that lived during Soviet Union.

Art:

Jake and Holly created a masterpiece in the Henri Matisse fashion and Timmy did a composition masterpiece, where he also had to mix his own colors. Timmy found this project to be a little difficult. So this art work is really a Timmy & Mom project. Jessica's Latin class was cancelled, so she was able to join us for art class this day.

We did get other regular work done, but not a whole weeks worth. There is always next week to catch up on bookwork.

Wordless Wednesday: Cat Nip Heaven

2008-02-06T09:15:00.000-08:00

Anyone that knows my cats (or has a cat like this), knows that the orange kitty doesn't like the other cats at all. She growls, hisses, and swats at them when ever they come near her. But she forgot all about that once the cat nip was brought out! Silly kitty...

Sketch Tuesday: I'm Freezing In Here

2008-02-05T12:48:00.000-08:00

Jessica had fun trying to figure out what she will draw from the freezer. She thought about it for a while, but once she opened the door, right away she knew what she wanted to draw... Sausage of course!

To see what other artisit choose to draw from the freezer, check out Sketch Tuesday. If you would like to participte, check out Sketch Tuesday for information on how to participate. Anyone can join in the fun.

Weekly Report: Week 17

2008-02-03T13:41:00.000-08:00

17 Down, 19 More To Go!

Wow, I can't believe it has been 1 week so far. I sure wish days would slow down a little for us. We accomplished a bit, but I wanted to do more. Below are some highlights of our week. Make sure to check out the slide show below for some wonderful pictures from the topics listed below.

Zoology 1:

We had a blast at our co-op this week. We played our quizzical, reviewed What Do You Remember Questions, took Quiz Ch 13, gave their insect oral report, and made a cricket habitat. For 2 days the kids recorded where they saw there crickets in their habitat every few hours. Unfortunately, Timmy's died pretty earlier off. But he was ok with it... His work was now done. *Ü* Silly boy.

Groundhog Day Study:

I LOVED this study. I probably enjoyed it more than the kids did. My husband said I was obsessed with Groundhogs for the last couple of weeks. I guess when I am really into something, I go all out. *Ü*

We learned about where the tradition started from & how different countries adapted it to their beliefs. Discovered which country brought the tradition to America (Germans) to what type of events take place in celebration of Groundhogs Day. We also learned about groundhogs in general.

This is a well rounded study that touch on many different subjects: writing(copywork, poetry), geography, history, science, & arts (creating the lapbook). What did we use: Hands of a Child Groundhog Day lapbook. This lapbook aslo includes a research guide (mini unit study) and has a list for suggested book/links.

We took 3 days to completed this study.

Russia Study:

The kids read about Peter the Great and also did a biography on him as well. They worked on a timeline for their notebooks, as well as places time line figures in their timeline books, read a Russia folk tale, and learned a little about Buryats from Window on the World.

Atelier Art:

Jake and Holly's art assignment this week was about a table, with a vase full of flowers. Timmy's assignment was about horizon lines & using all 12 colors on a color wheel (primary, secondary, & tertiary).

And there concludes highlights from our school days this week. Have a wonderful week!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-01-30T10:44:00.000-08:00

To see more Wordless Wednesday's, visit The Well-Trained Mind Parents Forum K-8. Do a search for Wordless Wednesday.

Weekly Report: Week 16

2008-01-26T17:01:00.000-08:00

16 Down, 20 More to Go!

Wow, what a busy 2 weeks we have had. I am not counting the past 2 weeks as a full 2 weeks, because each week there was 1 day, each week, when school wasn't accomplished (Dr. Appt., physical Therapy, etc.) Therefore, this week is WEEK 16, loaded with lots of pictures to share with you.

We are LOVING our Russia study! We are closer and closer to wrapping it up. Over the past 2 weeks, we made a Mammoth Diorama, read about Peter the Great, read some folk tales from Russia, & read about missionaries in Russia. We also watched a few movies about Mammoths, the Trans Siberian Railroad, Catherine the Great, Siberian Tigers, & Lake Baikal. I am also creating a lapbook for Russia. So please keep an eye out for more information... Here are a couple pictures from our Russia Study:

We are back into our Zoology 1 study as well. Oh we had a blast at our last get together. Something I haven't been doing this co-op is the quiz board (kids named it Quizical). The kids really enjoyed earning treats as they answered the correct answers. We worked on our lapbooks(from Live & Learn), draw pictures of our favorite insect from chapter 13, and did a science experiment. It was a fun filled day! Next week the kids will be giving oral reports on an insect of their choice.

I think last Weekly Report, I promised to share Timmy's re-write from his writing assignment (Writing Tales). Here is his writing revision:

The Spider and the Fruit Fly

There once was a fruit fly that knew a nice spider. He went over to his web one day. He arrived just in time for supper, but flies were all the spider had to offer. The fruit fly did not want flies and said, "If you come with me you will have some tasty pies."

They arrived at the house late at night, just before dessert, while the pies werer cooling down. They feasted on pies. Then a human came to the towards the door whistling, "I knew an old lady who swallowed a fly..."

The spider asked, "What is that?"

The fruit fly said, "It is only the human."

Then the spider said, "I do not like that music at my dinner time." Just then, in came the human and the two bugs scattered.

The spider said, "Good-Bye friend."

The fruit fly said, "Leaving so soon friend?".

The spider responded, "Better flies in peace, then pies in fear."

In our last report, I also said we were finishing up our Christmas study. Here are some pictures of the kids Christmas Symbols Lapbook (from HOAC) as well as a notebooking page from History Scribe: History of Christmas that they choose to share with you all. The neat thing about the file folders is that they are smelly folders. The pink ones smell like candy canes and the brown ones smell like cinnamon. The kids LOVED them. Enjoy the slide show:

We also began bible time in the mornings before we start school. We are using Our 24 Family Ways. We are enjoying it, but I think I need something more in depth for Jessica and Timmy. I went to Lisawa's house and she shared Explorer's Bible Studies with me. Oh I feel in LOVE... We will switch to these soon.

The kids have been busy creating masterpieces with Atelier Art. Below we have an horizon line sunset with sail boats, a city scence using toy car models, a line creature drawing, marching band, & a cat painting.

And that concludes Week 16 Weekly Report. Have a wonderful week!

P.S.: Make sure to check out Jessica's Sketch for this week's Sketch Tuesday HERE.

2008-01-26T08:57:00.000-08:00

I got TAGGED! *Ü* Dawn over at Picking Up Pebbles tagged me for this fun meme:

Book Meme

Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

Songs of rejoicing spread throught the

crowd of worshiping people. The hearts of young

men and women were being changed!

Souls were being saved!

I really wanted to choose a passage from the book "I" am currently reading, but I must follow the rules. *Ü* So I stretched my hand to the left, and this was the book I touched first. This book is from our current read aloud that is part of our Russia study. This passage is from: They Would Not Be Moved by Harvey Yoder

Here are the blogging folks I have chosen to tag: Ambleside Classical , Tressays, 3 Kiwi Homeschoolers, Classical Education Our Way, and A Day In The Life. Wish I could pick more, but I have to leave some untagged so others can tag you down the road. *Ü*

Wordless Wednesday: Someone Didn't Want to Be Here

2008-01-23T08:01:00.000-08:00

This picture was taken about 4 years ago. The kids are soooo little...

To see more Wordless Wednesday's, visit The Well-Trained Mind Parents Forum K-8.

Sketch Tuesday: In The Kitchen

2008-01-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

Over at The Heart of Harmony, Barb provides a Sketch Tuesday that my daughter is really enjoying. She is hard at work on this week's assignment: In The Kitchen. If you look really really closely at the tag hanging out of the mug, it says, "Lipton Green Tea."

Anyone can join along in the fun. So grab your element of desire (crayon, pencils, paints, ect.) and head over to The Heart of Harmony for more details and to see other FANTASTIC sketches!

Next week's assignment is: Computer Spare Parts. Hum... That will be an interesting one. *Ü*

Homeschooling Tips & Tricks

2008-01-18T07:34:00.000-08:00

This weeks Homeschool Meme from In The Heart of the Matter is: Homeschooling Tips & Tricks. Each Friday they have a different theme in which homeschoolers can participate by posting the Friday topic on their blog and linking back to In The Heart of the Matter's blog. To check out a list of upcoming topics click HERE.

Tip &/or Trick from Jetihoja Academy:

I don’t have a large home or a school room. Where do I store schoolwork for multiple kids?

We don’t have a large house, no schoolroom, and have 4 children at home that we are homeschooling. Where do I keep all their schoolwork? We’ve homeschooled for 13+ years and I have finally figured out that works best for storing the kids school: milk crates. All their work stacks nicely inside the crate and we store them in the entry way closet. Each child has a difference colored crate.

They also have matching pencil boxes that have pencils, easers, pencil sharpeners, colored pencils, glue stick, scissors, etc in them. This make clean up much easier and I don’t have to think whose pencil box it is, or ask the kids. If the kids don't remember to put them back in the crate, Ijust place it in the same colored create and the job is done! :o)

Best place to keep those "needed" items close at hand while schooling in the dinning room.

Right by the kitchen table I have a 10 drawer standing cabinet. In it I store any items I may need; scissors, pencils, pens, tape, glue, stapler, paper clips, magazines, flash cards, etc. I also store my homeshool cd’s in there, since I use my laptop a lot at the table.

On the other end of the table, there is a 4 drawer rolling cart that holds lapbooking supplies (colored paper, card stock, file folders, brads, etc). On top of that is a 3 drawer holder that has colored markers, colored pencils, stickers, and more.

This has saved me from searching for items I need often or searching for something one of the kids may need: penci, earser top, etc. I find if they leave to table to find something, they always get distracted. :o) I also have a very cool tool. It is called: Desk Apprentice. The thing is... I have yet to use it. True story… It is just so large, I am not sure where I would store it in my schooling area. So there it sits in the box still.

Hands of a Child Second Chance Sale!

2008-01-17T16:48:00.000-08:00

http://www.handsofachild.com/

SECOND-CHANCE SALE!

It's HOAC's Second-Chance Sale!
HOAC Project Packs and Kit Packs ONLY!
Sale does not apply to any other products!!

All Project Packs in any format!
Printed, CD, or eBook!

Here is the schedule of dates and discounts:

Friday
January 18, 2008
6:00 AM till Saturday 6:00 AM
45% off

Saturday
January 19, 2008
6:01 AM till Sunday 6:00 AM
35% off

Sunday
January 20, 2008
6:01 AM till Monday 6:00 AM
30% off
All Times are Eastern

The Coupon Code for this Sale is: 2ndchance

NOTE: Sale does NOT include the Template Pack or any Graphics Packs.
Cannot be combined with any other offer, sale, coupon or discount.

Make the Most of the Sale this weekend and use the Wishlists feature! Just set

up your account now and fill your wishlists and then you can add them to your

cart and checkout in the blink of an eye!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION!!!

If you have an existing account YOU MUST LOGIN and FILL OUT ALL YELLOW FIELDS in your account information before placing an order. If you do not login and have all yellow fields filled in BEFORE you begin your order any Coupon Codes you have WILL NOT WORK!

Remember to LOGIN and FILL OUT ALL YELLOW FIELDS BEFORE SHOPPING!

· Login
· Click on the Account button at the top right of the page
· Click on Manage Address Book
· Click on Edit in the first box
· You will now see a form that has yellow fields. Make sure those fields are filled in.

Sketch Tuesday

2008-01-16T09:27:00.000-08:00

Over at The Heart of Harmony, Barb provides a Sketch Tuesday that my daughter is really enjoying. She is hard at work on this week's assignment: Something in the Kitchen. I think my other dd is wanting to do this one as well after watching big sister draw. Anyone can join along. So grab your element of desire (crayon, pencils, paints, ect.) and head over to The Heart of Harmony for more details!

Here is a picture from last weeks assignment: Keeping Warm

Wordless Wednesday: "Can I keep him?"

2008-01-16T08:07:00.000-08:00

To see more Wordless Wednesday's, visit 5minutesformom.

Weekly Report: Week 13-15

2008-01-11T23:30:00.000-08:00

15 Down, 21 More To Go!

It has been a while since I have done a weekly report, but we have been doing school. We took Christmas Break from Dec. 17-Jan 4. With in this post will be a recap/highlight of the 3 weeks that have we did school, but didn't do our weekly report.

Review of each child's weeks:

Jessica received a 94% on her Chapter 6 Latin test this week! She just LOVES Latin and retains the information pretty well. I don't know anything about Latin and thank God for her Teacher and her strong drive to learn.

She also finished Tom Sawyer over our break. She took longer to read this book then she was suppose to so we are a little behind in Lightning Literature. The book did scare her a little bit at different parts, but over all she said she enjoyed the book.

Her writing class started up on the 7th and she is doing a report on the Green Sea Turtle. We will share with you all once her report is completed.

Timmy has had a little struggle getting back into the swing of school after our break. I am sure it is a combination of things (surgery, holidays, break, etc.). He is really enjoying Writing Tales and is hard at work at his 2nd story. He will finish that up next week and we will be happy to share it with you all. He has a wonderful imagination.

Holly has really enjoyed her science book we purchased for her. She loves the one on one time with me and doing experiments all on her own (with help from me of course). Her brothers and sister watch what she is doing and tell her she is so lucky, etc. I think it makes her feel a little extra special.

Jake well he really loves math. *Ü* He really enjoyed doing or Christmas study and always asked to do more. He is coming along with his reading. I would say he needs to work on his penmanship. But then again, he is only a 6 year old, no wait, 7 year old (Bday happened over our break) boy. *Ü*

Co-ops:

One of our co-ops started up on the 3rd. I wish it would have been the following week because I wasn't ready to go back so quickly after New Years Day. But I didn't make the schedule, so away I went. Note: I did make the zoology co-op's schedule and our 1st day back was the 10th! All the families appreciated that. *Ü*

Jessica and Timmy have read Galatians, and 1st and 2nd Corinthians for their bible class last week.

Jake, Timmy, and Holly all enjoyed their art class. The first week, Jake stayed home sick with Dad, so he did not complete one art project that Holly did complete.

In the past 2 weeks Holly did a Farm Tear-Art project and a "Free For All" project (this is because the teacher, A.K.A Mom, forgot the dvd's at home... UGH! That was my GREATEST fear teaching the class).

Jake did a "Free For All" art project. I just LOVE the blue/brown mixed color he crated that he used for the sky and to paint his house.

Timmy did a painting of a king (using playing card-the face cards). We painted it to have a stained glass effect. The artist we were studying was George Rouault. The following week, he did a picture of a marching band. He still wants to add to it, so I will share it next week.

This week in Holly and Jake's Build a Body class, they looked at a cows liver. They both said it smelled really, really bad and that they got to hold it, but had to wear gloves. They LOVE this class.

We started back at Zoology this week as well. I sure have missed all the kids and it was great to visit with the mom's I haven't seen over the break. We basically did review, and are starting full swing, with a new approach next week. I just felt Zoology was going so BLLAAAHHHH following the basics of the schedule, so I had to spice it up some. I think I will be happy with the way things go this semester. *Ü*

EXTRA Study:

All the kids did a Christmas study. We did Christmas Symbols Lapbook by In The Hands of a Child and also used History Scribes Christmas notebooking pages. We learned about the history of the mistletoe. Did you know that the mistletoe was used in ancient Scandinavia? It was used a symbol of peace and when two enemies would met under a forest and they spotted a mistletoe, they would declare peace for the day. I just found that amazing.

I also had "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" Lapbook fro Live and Learn, but we didn't get around to doing it. I "HAVE" to do this one, because it cost $16 to get 2 colored copies of the graphics.

We are still finishing that study up and I will share pictures next week. *Ü*

Something Extra: Jessica saved up her money and treated herselft to a new hairdoo! She even had it frosted! I put a couple pictures of this in the slide show. I think she chose wisely. *Ü*

That is our recap of 3 weeks of homeschooling at Jetihoja Academy. Until next weekend when I will post week 16 activities.

A Day In The Life Of A Homeschooler

2008-01-11T10:33:00.000-08:00

Over at The Heart of the Matter, they have started a weekly blog roll (meme) on Fridays. Every Friday the topic will change. To see upcoming topics click HERE.

This Friday's topic is, "A Day in The Life of a Homeschooler". As of late I don't seem to post much at our blog, so I think these topics will be help me to add a little more to my blog. I am looking forward to Friday's topics. So remember to check back on Fridays! *Ü*

But also take note that I am a Weekly Reporter and I usually post a recap of our homeschool happening on Saturday or Sunday after we finish up a week. If you want to become a Weekly Report, fill free to join at any time. Check HERE for more details as to what it is about, to see other Weekly Reporters, and to join along with us.

So here is a typical (or should I say, a day we strive for...) day for our family:

7-7:30 am:
Mom gets up (would love this to be 9am, but then everything for school doesn't get done). Co-op and Physical Therapy (PT) Days I have to get up earlier.

8:00 am:
* Kids are up eating breakfast, getting ready for the day, and doing chores.
* On Mondays, Jessica does her online writing class at 8 am.
* Currently Timmy is going to PT twice a week at this time.
* Need to implement a bible time to start our day. I am not good at getting this done. It is one area I want to improve on in our homeschooling.

9:00 am-11:30 am to Noon:
* Gather at the table to do school work. The order in which we do it varies from day to day, and what the kids have for assignments. Some day we start at 8:30, just because everyone is up and ready by then.

Noon:
Lunch hour

1:00-3:00pm:
*Continue working on school work. Do extra studies and read aloud time
* 3:00-4:00 on Tuesdays, Jessica has her Online Latin Class.

And some weeks we don't get school done each day of Monday- Friday. Then we go into the weekend to get our schoolwork done. I love the flexibility of homeschooling.

What about snack time you ask? Well we don't have a scheduled snack time. If the kids are hungry, they can get something to eat (mostly fruit or veggies, sometimes crackers, etc.). But ABSOLUTELY no water at the table. *Ü*

Co-op Day:

For our first co-op, first hour, Jessica and Timmy take a "That's in the Bible" Class. Jake and Holly take "Art & Art Appreciation". For second hour, Jessica takes "Latin", Timmy takes "Art & Art Appreciation", and Jake and Holly take "Build a Body". This is a wonderful co-op with wonderful teachers. I am blessed (and so are the kids) to have wonderful teacher for my kids classes.

After this co-op ends, we head off to our next co-op at a dear friends house. We bring a sack lunch and all the kids eat together there. Again I am blessed to have this available for my kids and am blessed to have these friendships, both for me (adults) and my kids.

How long do the kids take on an average day to accomplish their work?

Jessica: It really does depend on what she has to accomplish for the day. The amount of time averages between 3-5 hours.

Timmy: 3-4 hours a day. Some times it seems like math takes 3 hours alone. He doesn't really complain about math, he just gets distracted and I don't know... It seems to take him forever. Hoping that will change once Teaching Textbooks arrives for him. *Ü*

Holly: I would say around 3 hours

Jake: 2 hours

But then you need to factor in our extra work on top of that. I love Lapbooking, when we are doing an extra study, we usually add anywhere from an hour to 2 on top of a typical day. Also our read aloud time on top of that (we read for approximately an hour).

We also do Science together, and that isn't factored in with the above time spent on schoolwork (approximently 5 hours addition per week).

Right now we are working on our country study: Russia. I am only doing this with Jessica and Timmy and the days we do this, it adds about 1-2 extra hours onto our day.

What would I love to ADD to our days?

Like I mentioned above, I want to find a bible study for all the kids to do together. I have to check into Explorers Bible study. But I don't want 1 book for Jess, 1 for Timmy, etc. I want to do them all together. Any suggestions for me?

That is what I miss with Mystery of History(MOH). We did get that bible time in. But we let MOH slip by this year. We are doing other history type studies and I don't think I could do a full blown history course right now.

Someone on the Well Trained Mind board asked a question about what other homeschoolers do to make homeschooling fun. I loved reading about the different ideas other homeschoolers do in their home. One that I would love to add is an afternoon tea/hot coco and snack time. Click on homeschooling fun to read what other homeschooler said.

And that concludes "A Day in the Life of a Jetihoja Academy Homeschooler".

PS: I can't wait to read about your "A Day in the Life of a Homeschooler" if you decide to join this blog roll/meme (still don't understand the difference), please comment and let me know if you do. *Ü* Then I will go to HOTM site and check out your typical homeschooling day!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-01-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

To see more Wordless Wednesdays, &/or to play, visit: 5minutesformom

Look What We Woke Up To Today!

2008-01-08T07:51:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful thing to happen day 2 since returning to school. Our School district is closed today. Hum... Does that mean no school here too? *Ü* We have been getting lots of snow this season, but unfortunately, the snow we get doesn't last to long. Today it is supposed to turn to rain.

When I first woke up:

About an hour later:

And right now:

And it is still snowing! Let it SNOW!!

Like I mentioned above, this is Day 2 of school for the new year. I will post some of our happenings over break in a day or two, but for now I want to leave you with Holly's science experiment yesterday. As you can see, it is on evaporation. *Ü*

Thank goodness it was very easy to clean up. *Ü*

Wordless Wednesday

2008-01-02T14:54:00.000-08:00

To play more WW, visit here at 5mintuesformom.

FREE Project Pack by In The Hands of a Child: Sled Dogs

2008-01-02T11:13:00.000-08:00

Homeschoolestore's weekly freebie is a lapbook by In the Hands of a Child. It is titled Sled Dogs and is for grades 3-8, but they can easily be adjusted for lower or higher grades.

Make sure you head on over to Homeschoolestore (not Hands of a Child) and get the weekly freebie! Hurry because next Monday (1-7) this one will not free anymore.

And while you are there, make sure you sign up for their weekly newsletter to receiver the detail on each weeks freebie. You must first create an account with them and then on "My Account" page there will be a link you can click on that will take you the subscribe page.

I own this lapbook, but haven't done this one yet. It is great for anyone that wants to know the history of sled dogs, different types of sled dogs, racing, communication, musher commands, equipment costs and more. This is a great add on for anyone that is studying places that they use sled dogs. For example, in Russia (a country we are currently studying), they use sled dogs quite a bit to travel in Siberia. Hummmm, I think I see another lapbook project in our near future. *Ü*

Look Who's on the Cover of HOAC Catalog!

2007-12-29T20:03:00.000-08:00

Wow! I couldn't believe it when my friend emailed me and told me to check out Hands of a Child's new 2008 Catalog. She said someone I know would be on the front cover! WOW!

Well, needless to say I dropped everything I was doing at the moment and headed over to Hands of a Child and checked out the new catalog. Timmy is on the front cover holding the Extreme Weather Lapbook. And that isn't all, my children are on other pages throughout as well.

* Timmy is on page: 22 (Lions)
* Jessica is on page: 44 (Biltmore House)
* Jake is on page: 44 (Out Like a Lion & In like a Lamb)
* And a group photo (Jessica, Timmy, Holly, & friend) of a a class I did at my home on Extreme Weather is on page: 23

This catalog is wonderful! It is full of GREAT coupons, Question & Answers, wonderful articles, and more. I recently received the hard copy of this catalog. It is a wonderful to sit down with some coffee and read catalog! You can also download in ebook format for free at HOAC.

I always enjoy reading the HOAC catalog!

And I don't think I shared this other tidbit with you. Timmy is also on the HOAC blog logo. :o) What a photogenic child I have!

Timmy's Dr. Appointment Update

2007-12-20T18:32:00.000-08:00

Well... Timmy's hand isn't turning like it did after the surgery. So we have to do exercises 10 times a day and he will start physical therapy 2 times a week after Christmas. The PT says she doesn't feel the blockage in his arm like before when she tried to turn it. Therefore her, and the Dr., feel it is just a little stiff and with working it, he will be ok.

Please keep him in your prayers that healing continues to improve and he is able to turn that hand palm upright in no time.

After Surgery Update on Timmy

2007-12-19T00:27:00.000-08:00

Sorry this took a while to post. I just wasn't certain what I would say, how much to share, etc. Seems I got a little long winded anyways. *Ü*

We arrived at the hospital at 7am. Did a quick check in and then off to the surgery waiting area. The nurse Timmy had was wonderful! She made him feel very comfortable. And she made us feel comfortable too.

The anesthesiologist was a funny character. He was asking Timmy all kinds of math questions (converting pounds to kg) and Timmy just stared at the guy. I told him that Timmy couldn't even remember his name when asked a while ago, let alone be able to answer any questions like that. Then he told Timmy, "See you later Alligator." And then asked Timmy what he was suppose to say. Timmy just stared at him... again... The poor kid was overwhelmed. But all in all the anesthesiologist was a very nice guy and was just trying to make Timmy feel comfortable with him. He (the anesthesiologist) just struck me as a little odd. *Ü*

Surgery started at approximately 8:30am and was scheduled for 1 1/2 hours. Therefore he would be done and in recovery at, or around, 10 am. At 10:45 am I was wondering why we hadn't heard anything yet. At 11 am Greg went to the desk to find out the status of Timmy's surgery. They said all was well and the Dr. was taking his time and being very careful.

At 11:45 am we still hadn't heard anything. At 12pm Greg went to the front desk again to check on Timmy's status and he was told they just finished up, that Timmy was in recovery, and that the Dr. should be down anytime to let us know how things went. The total operation took 3 1/2 hours.

I can't begin to tell you the thoughts, worries, etc. I was going threw during those extra 2 hours of "unknown". I couldn't concentrate on anything. I brought my Christmas cards and filled out a lot of them during that time, but after about an hour I just couldn't sit any more. I was amazed that Greg could sit there and read his book. My mind was all over the place. There is no way I could concentrate on reading... I guess that is just another difference between us gals and guys.

My brother and sister-in-law arrived around noon to be with us and Timmy. I am so thankful they came. It really helped distract me from my woes. I really enjoy spending time with both of them and feel so blessed they traveled to come and spend the day with us.

What did the Dr. have to say you ask....? The Dr. said it took longer because there are so many nerves, etc and with how deep they had to go he just had to take his time to make sure not to damage any nerves, etc. He told us that at the end of the operation, he turned Timmy's hand and it went flat, palm up, no problem! Praise the Lord!!!

The Dr. did say he wanted Timmy to stay the night so he could have access to stronger medicine because of the operation. He also put a shunt in his arm as well and that had to be removed in the morning before he could go home. He also told us Timmy had a 4" incision in his leg and about the same size incision in his arm. OUCH!

Around 1pm we were able to head up to the hospital room and see our boy. Right way I started to get teary eyed. My baby looked so out of it. I felt so helpless... But I quickly sucked it up, thanked God for pulling him through this, put on a happy face. He didn't need to see me like that!

We all visited with Timmy a little while, he slept a lot that day. After some time, Greg, his brother and his wife left and went to our house. They picked up the other kids and took them out to dinner and then brought them to the hospital to see their brother. They are wonderful siblings!

Have you heard about pets visiting people in the hospitals Well it just so happens that on the day Timmy was there, a gal and her Great Dane were making their rounds. Boy that dog is BIG! Scooby Doo is a Great Dane. *Ü*

During the time Greg was away, my dear friend Lisa (Lisawa to some of you), and her DD stopped by for a visit. It was wonderful to see her. She was my rock that day. My mom was out of town and couldn't be there, therefore I called Lisa when I was feeling low/worrisome while Timmy was in surgery. Side Note: It also reminded me of a time several years back when Timmy was bit by my mom 's dog and had to go to the ER. Greg was out of town (in Japan), and Lisa and another friend Charlyn came to be with me and Timmy at the hospital. I thank God for the special friendships he has given me. *Ü*

While the kids were at the hospital, Grandma and Grandpa stopped by for a visit. Timmy was sure happy to see them too! *Ü* What a lucky boy to have so many folks stop by and wish him well.

After everyone left, I took the kids back home, picked up a couple things that I didn't tell Greg I needed for spending the night, and returned to the hospital. Greg then said goodnight to Timmy and headed home to be with the other kid-o's.

Timmy had a hard time shaking off the drugs that were in his system. He couldn't hold anything down that whole day. As I mentioned earlier, he slept a lot of the day away. At 1 am he wanted to go for a walk. So up we went, out into the hallway and walked around the floor (wing-area he was stying) of the hospital. I was amazed at his strength, determination, and his ability to bounce back so wonderfully!

I am pleased to say Timmy is doing WONDERFULLY! So much better than I expected. He moves around pretty good now and isn't in much pain. We see the Dr. on Thursday and I will let you all know how that appointment goes.

Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes! *Ü*

Dad and Son watching some TV:

At home recovering:

A gift arrived in the mail from Grandpa and Grandma:

Wordless Wednesday

2007-12-19T00:11:00.000-08:00

To enjoy more WW pictures, please visit 5minutesformom .

Homeschooling Family Video

2007-12-17T09:53:00.001-08:00

You just have to check out this neat (and short) homeschooling family video!

It is sure to bring a smile to your face. Enjoy!

Weekly Report: Week 12

2007-12-12T11:32:00.000-08:00

12 Weeks Down, 24 More to Go!

What a busy-full week we had. Here are some highlights:

Jessica completed her Russia report and completed Elementary Report Writing class from Home2teach. She also received an Honors Certificate! It was 7 pages long, but only 2 pages were the actual report. The rest was the title page, outline, cover page, map, & reference. She did a wonderful job! Below is her report (the 2 pages only). To read her report, please click here: Mesmerizing Russia

I also started her on a geography curriculum: Runkles Geography. She is LOVING this book. She is only on lesson 2, but it is one she is even pulling out this week to do, even though we have no assigned schoolwork (Christmas Break). Here are a couple pictures of her doing the activities:

Centrifugal Force (Sun-pencil & Earth-eraser)

Lunar Eclipse (lamp-sun, tomato-moon, orange-earth)

Timmy was busy writing his own story this week as well. He re-wrote the Aesop's fable, "The Crow and the Pitcher". His story is titled, "The Cat and the Tall Glass of Milk". Here is his very own story:

The Cat and the Tall Glass

There once was a cat named Whiskers that was dying of thirst. She came across a tall glass of milk. But the glass was too tall and she could not reach the milk. Then a thought came to her to drop cat food in the tall glass. Twenty nine times she dropped cat food into the tall glass. She saw the milk mount up near enough for her to drink. Then she quenched her thirst and saved her life.

Moral: Little by little does the trick.

He currently working on "The Town Mouse & the Country Mouse". Timmy is really enjoying Writing Tales. His only complaint would be vocabulary. He doesn't like to look up words in the dictionary.

Jessica and Timmy also did a little more research on their Russia study. Among other things, they mapped where the Mammoths were found on their Russia Map.

Holly is hard at work with the 3 division table and I think she is getting it down better this time around. I can say math is not one of her favorite subjects.

Jake on the other hand LOVES his math homework and is always asking to do more. Which is fine by me.

All the kids are working on a Symbols Christmas Lapbook from In The Hands of a Child. Timmy and Jake are working "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" from Live and Learn Press. We are also using notebooking pages from History Scribe called "History of Christmas".

We read the top section of the notebooking page, then they draw a picture of what they are learning about, and at the bottom they write in their own words what the notebooking page is about. It has been a lot of fun.

Another fun thing they are doing is an Advent Copybook that lady from the Well Trained Mind board created. It is nicely done for Timmy (cursive), Holly and Jake (manuscript). But for Jessica she is coping scripture about the birth of Jesus.

Enjoy some extra pictures from Jetihoja Academy!

Typical School Day:

Working on History Scribe Christmas Notebooking Pages:

Timmy Working on Lesson 3 Writing Tales Sentence Stripes:

Working on HOAC Christmas Symbols Lapbook:

Wordless Wednesday

2007-12-12T10:33:00.000-08:00

To enjoy more WW pictures, please visit 5minutesformom .

Christmas Baking: Christmas Wreaths Cookies

2007-12-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

We are visiting a friend today and my girlfriends husbands LOVES my Christmas Wreath cookies. I meant to make these during the day on Monday, but time just slipped by me... So at 9:30pm last night my darling helpful little girl came to my aid.

BTW, these are my favorite cookies too. My family has been making them every year since I was a little girl. Probably even before I was born. My mom doesn't care to make them any more, so now it up to me to make them and pass the tradition onto my family.

Here are some photo's of Jessica helping me. Following the photo's will be the recipe. Have fun making these YUMMY cookies with your children.

(Above) Stirring the melting marshmallows & butter. Just added the food coloring.

(Above) Added the cornflakes and STIRRING more. Boy it gets hard to stir.

(Above) Shaping the wreaths and adding the cinn. dots

Christmas Wreaths Cookies

30 marshmallows
3 1/2 c corn flakes
1/2 c butter or marg. (butter is better)
Green food coloring
Red Cinn Dots

Stir over med low heat until butter and mellows are melted. Add food coloring for desired color. Add corn flakes and stir until well coated. Shape into wreaths on wax paper and add 3 cinn dots to the top.

When wreaths dry, just cut the paper around the wreath. Leave the wax paper on the bottom of the wreath.

NOTE: When I make this, I always double it. Some times I substitute Mini M&M's for the red hots. And have a cup of cold water by you to help you shape the wreaths with ease.

I Got Elfed

2007-12-10T22:35:00.000-08:00

Ok a friend posted this at her blog and with her encouragement I decided to try it out. Let me know if you try this out as well. I would love to check it out! ~Tina

Hey, I just made a total elf of myself.

This elfin' greeting brought to you by OfficeMax®.

Jessica's Birthday Party

2007-12-08T14:21:00.000-08:00

This was LONG overdue, but it turned out wonderful!

Her birthday is in September, but we have been so busy with other events, and other things just come up that we finally got around to it on Nov. 3o-Dec. 1 (yes, a sleep over).

The party guests arrived around 6pm and we had an all you can eat/make your own pizza party!

The highlight of the night was High School Musical 1. I haven't seen this show yet and I just didn't understand all the hub-bub about it. Well I must say I really enjoyed it and I can't wait to see High School Musical 2. The girls enjoyed dancing to the musical performances & signing along with the cast. This is one special time in my daughters life I will always remember.

The big event for the party happened on Saturday. We took the ferry over to Seattle to go to the Seattle Aquarium. Once we arrived in Seattle we took the kids to McDonald's for lunch. By the time we were done eating, it was snowing in Seattle. The kids had so much fun walking the water front, towards the aquarium in the snow.

On our way to catch the ferry home, we stopped in the Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe on pier 54. This store is one of the neatest store on the waterfront. They have all sorts of neat things in the store. There have Mummies, a two head pig, shrunken heads, etc.

Below are some Highlights:

Kids Wall Art

2007-12-07T11:59:00.000-08:00

Art projects were piling up on the TV tray stand and I just couldn't take it any more! I went to JoAnn's to look at frames, but they were way out of budget to purchase 4 at 1 time that very same day. So off to Wal-mart I went.

I found these lovely frames for around $16 each. They worked perfectly. I have placed all the other art the children have done behind the mat of the ones they chose to display.

I think it looks pretty good and the kids sure enjoy seeing their art work on the wall.

Weekly Report: Week 11

2007-12-04T09:28:00.000-08:00

11 Down, 25 More to Go!

Once again, our week was very busy with outside activities. We got school done, but really nothing to exciting to report about. I think I feel this way because life is pretty busy around here right now & I just didn't get all I wanted to complete done. Oh well, there is always next week.

Jessica has been hard at work on her Russia report and it is almost completed. Next week it will be completed and we will share it with you here at Jetihoja Academy Blog!

Timmy is really enjoying his Writing Tales. He is hard at work creating his own version of The Crow and the Pitcher. We will share that with you next week as well.

I started Jake and Holly on a science workbook titled: Steck-Vaughn Science. They each have their own book for which grade they are in. I wanted to do more science with them, since they don't really do a lot of the book work for Zoology (& they take a Build a Body Class at Co-op). They just sit in on the fun stuff. It is good they do this, but I really thought they needed a little more on the study side of science. And this seems to be very well rounded and a wonderful fit for both of them. They both seem to enjoy doing this workbook.

The BIG event of the week was Jessica's Belated B-day party. I will post more about that HERE.

Thanks for stopping by and reading our weekly report. Until next time...

Update On Timmy

2007-11-30T09:30:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was the day we found out what the next step will be. Yes... he will need surgery. He is a little nervous about all this, but all and all I think he is doing fine. He knows it has to be done and there is no way out of it. It is scheduled for 2 weeks and he might be able to come home the same day, as long as he is doing ok.

They will remove the extra bone that connected the 2 bones together and will be taking some of his tendon from his thigh and placing it where they removed the bone to help stop new bone growth to form. Please pray that this works. If not, then the next step might be surgery again or radiation.

The bonus is that he also has a floating bone (isn't attached to anything, just floating in his muscle tissue) that developed during the healing process and they will be removing that as well. Man, this kid just has amazing bone growth!

After the surgery, he will rest for 2 weeks and then it is back to physical therapy. The Dr. feels he will heal just fine. He won't have 100% use of his hand (turning the palm upright) like before, but it will be much much better than what he has now. There is a possibility when he gets older he may need this procedure again.

Please continue to keep praying for Dr. wisdom, the hospital staff, and that Timmy heals properly and is given a sense of peace about the whole procedure.

Thank you for praying for him.

A picture of Timmy's hand for those visual folks. *Ü*

For more information/past posts click here: Timmy

Prayer Request AND Weekly Report: Week 10 1/2

2007-11-25T12:32:00.000-08:00

Some of you may remember that Timmy broke his elbow back in Sept. We first reported about in a weekly report HERE, and then an update Here. And we shared little tidbits about Physical Therapy & Dr. appoints here in there in other Weekly Reports.

As of last week, we now know that physical therapy isn't working as they had hoped. He just is unable to turn his left hand upright. The Dr. feels that his bones grew together in the healing process and that is what is stopping him from turning his palm upright. Dr. called it, Heterotopic Ossification. He thinks surgery is the next step.

Things we take for granted that Timmy can't do right now is:

* Hold a handful of M&M's (or anything in his hand). He can hold maybe 3 M&M's max and that is with a lot of effort.

* Opening car doors with his left hand is very hard, unless he turns his body sideways.

* Tying his shoes laces is a lot harder

Timmy took a Cat Scan on Wednesday (11-21-07), and we will find out the results this Thursday (11-29-07). We are both anxious to see the 3-D image of his arm and find out what the next step is.

Please pray for: Dr.'s Wisdom, quick healing of his arm, and peace for us all (ok mommy a little more than dad at the moment), especially for Timmy if the next step is indeed surgery.

Timmy has been such a trooper through all of this, very little complaining at all from him, does his physical therapy exercise w/o any argument, etc. I am very proud of him.

Last week was a busy week for us and we only schooled Monday and Tuesday. Between Dr. Appointments, Cat Scan, and Physical Therapy Monday-Wednesday for Mr. Timothy school for 3 days was hard to get accomplished.

We did start a new writing program for Timmy called Writing Tales Level 1. WE (ok mom is a little over excited about the program), love this program. It is easy to implement, easy for Timmy to do, and very engaging. Here are some pictures of his completed work from this curriculum:

We did basics for everything else and there isn't anything really to share, except for a picture from one of our school days this week!

Weekly Report: Week 10

2007-11-17T10:29:00.000-08:00

10 Down, 26 More to Go!

Wow, the weeks are just flying by us. *Ü* Our week was busy and full. This week also marks the last week of morning co-op until next year. We will still get together 1 more time for Zoology to finish up lesson 12. And after that, no more co-ops until next year. *Ü* I really like to take a lot of time off in December, just because it is a busy month for us. We will work on the basics, but not a whole lot of "extras".

Here are some highlights from week 10:

Jake is taking off with his reading and wants to read anything in sight and gives it his all even if he doesn't know the word. He was even showing off his reading skills to a friend that was visiting. He also LOVES math, right Miss Lisa! *Ü*

We did another day from our Russia study and oh boy are we learning so much about Russia:

* Animals & Plants
* Different types of ethnic groups in Russia
* Lake Baikal (a lake that holds more water than any other lake in the world)
* and more!

At art class Holly & Jake made a painting of their bedroom (self expression activity) & Timmy created a scene from the story A Night Before Christmas. He now wants to create all the scenes and make our own family illustrated story to share on Christmas Eve. I think I will just "have" to allow time for him to do just that. I think it is wonderful he wants to do more art activities.

Jessica has been busy with all sorts of things this week. She has been helping Nana out a couple times over the week and made lunch for Nana while visiting with her. Her math is coming along just fine and even received a score of 100% on her last quiz.

Zoology was a lot of fun this week. We learned about Bettles, Flies, & True Bugs.

We also did an experiment that explained how a water strider can skim on the surface of the water(aka surface tension).

And at the end of class, we played a game called Caught in the Web. The Blue Team won! Go Blue!

I am looking forward to this upcoming week because Timmy will begin he new writing program: Writing Tales. It looks wonderful and I think it will be perfect for his learning style. And we also placed our order for Teaching Textbooks 5 that will be availble in Jan. Timmy can't wait until his new math arrives and he can do it on the computer.

HOAC also came out with a Rock & Mineral lapbook for older and younger kids. It is the Super Membership Freebie! I am sooooo excited and I purchased a bunch of rock materials from History Scribe's Homeschool Shop: DELUXE KIT , FOSSIL KIT , TUMBLED STONES , BOX OF GEODES , HISTORY SCRIBE , HAPPY SCRIBE BOOK (already owned) & there are other items I wanted to purchase, but they aren't available yet. *Ü* Did I over do it? *Ü* We will start our rock study in January. To read more about Rocks and Minerals check out Rock Hound Kids.

Have a Wonderful Thanksgivings Day and thank you for taking a peek into our school happenings!

PS: in case you were waiting to see the post about the lapbook Jessica did all on her own, I finally posted about it yesterday. Please take a peek and the post and if you would kindly leave a comment for her, I know it will encourage her and bring a big smile to her lips. Here is a short cut to the post in case you can't find it: The Biltmore House.

The Biltmore House Project Pack

2007-11-17T09:55:00.000-08:00

Jessica had so much fun doing this lapbook all on her own with minimal help from me. All I did was make the copies. *Ü*

Last April, she did a report on this "big house" for an assignment with Home2Teach Online Writing Class. So when this lapbook became available from In The Hands of a Child, she just "had" to have it.

Jessica says her favorite part of doing this lapbook is that she did it all on her own. She also found it amazing the number of refrigerators and telephones were in this house during an era when many people haven't even heard of refrigerators and/or telephones.

Below is her report. I couldn't figure out how to share a .doc file, so I decided to just cut and paste. *Ü*

My Dream Home

Biltmore Castle is a huge castle located in Asheville, North Carolina. The name Biltmore is a combination of two words; the first is “bildt,” for the region of Holland where the family came from, and “more,” is an old English word meaning upland rolling hills. This castle/home is the largest in the United States. They started building in 1889 and finished in 1895, taking a total of 6 years build this home. Amazingly, this home covers a total of 4 acres, all under one roof. This equals 175,000 sq. feet which is equal to 88 average sized homes today. This house has 250 rooms, 60 fireplaces, an indoor pool, bowling alley, and many priceless arts and antiques. The cost to build the house is unknown. They are still searching to find more receipts and documents which will give them at least an estimate to the cost of the house. I would love this house as my own home, but it has way too many rooms for me to clean.

To learn more about this house, click here: Biltmore House and make sure to the "The Biltmore House" Project Pack from HOAC!

And her are some pictures of her completed lapbook. Enjoy! *Ü*