February Grandview Program and Art Co-op

The day before our January Grandview program and art co-op was scheduled, Alex was sick.  I didn't want to be away from him for that long so I rescheduled the programs.  The day I rescheduled them for did not work for several of the families that attend and we just ended up not having the programs in January and waiting instead to our regular day (the second Wednesday of each month) for February.

Aneesah usually does our programs but she was away on a mission trip so Caleb stepped in to do our program.  The program topic was on White Tail Deer.  He gave a talk to the children about white tail deer such as some of their features, what they like to eat, and what types of habitats they are found in.

They got to hold some antlers and a hoof.

We headed outside for a nature walk to look for signs of deer. They were excited to see some rubbings on the trees and a hoof print.

Our craft was to draw and decorate a doe, buck, and/or a fawn.  There were lots of supplies available that each child could be very creative in making their pictures.

For our art co-op we learned about Michelangelo.  I made a slide show for the children with some of his most famous works.  Because of the "content" of some of his works and the ages of our children, I used a head shot for the statue of David, a large area shot of the Sistine Chapel and then some smaller shots of the face of God and just the hands of God and Adam almost touching.  We filled out a notebook sheet with some information on Michelangelo and his works.

Our project was to paint a fresco plaque using water colors.  But, I had never used the plaster we had available and it had warnings on it not to let children touch it!  So instead of using plaster we used air dry clay.  The children added some water to it and made it a litter wetter and painted water colors on it.  A few of them wanted to make actual sculptures with the clay so those that wanted to did :)

Happy Homeschooling!

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ABC Snacks Eating Your Way Through the Alphabet: Letter I

*this post contains affiliate links






The unit we just finished up in My Father's World K was the letter "I" for insects.  For a fun hands on activity we made little ladybug cookies inspired by All About Learning Press's ABC snacks.

The original snack, Insect Nibbles, called for using cherry tomatoes,, black olives celery, crackers, and cream cheese or hummus.  My girls love tomatoes but do not like black olives or celery, so I couldn't figure out how to make it look like a lady bug using just tomatoes.  But, one of the variations on the snack suggested using strawberries and blueberries so we went with that suggestions.

We used:

Vanilla wafers
Vanilla Icing (we had colored some green for cupcakes so Lily used that because it looked like grass)
Strawberry
Blueberry

We spread the vanilla icing on the cookie, and topped it with strawberry wings and a blue berry head.  Quick, easy, and delicious!

*links to All About Learning are my affiliate links.  I only form affiliate relationships with companies whose products I actually use and can recommend!!

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4 H Bread Workshop

One of the cooking contests the children can participate in fir 4 H is a bread and cookie contest.  There are several different categories: yeast breads, quick breads, muffins, specialty breads, drop cookies, bar cookies, shaped cookies, and more.  This contest is for ages 5-19.  Children under the age of 9 can use a mix, children 9 and over have to bake from scratch.  This is one of my children's favorite contests.

To prepare for it, every year there is a bread workshop.  in 2012 we made yeast dough that we could take home.  My boys turned it into pizza :).  In 2013 we made pretzels.  Last year we missed the workshop because we were in Florida.  This year we learned how to make the perfect muffin and made pineapple muffins and corn bread muffins.

Nick, Alex, Christian, and Lily participated in the workshop.  Anthony did not want to and Emmie is still too little.  They split the children up in groups of 3-4 and put a teen leader in charge of each group.  They did a really good job making sure all of the children had an opportunity to participate, and they did everything including washing the dishes and cleaning up their areas.

The muffins were delicious!  We had never had pineapple muffins before.

Here is the recipe they used:

Muffin Ingredients:

2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
8 oz can crushed pineapple
3/4 c milk
1/4 c melted butter
1 egg beaten

Topping Ingredients:

1/4 c melted butter
1/4 t cinnamon
1/3 c brown sugar
1/2 c flour

Instructions:

Stir together flour, sugar baking powder, and salt.  Drain pineapple reserving 1/4 c of the juice.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in reserved juice, eggs, milk, and butte.  Stir until just moistened.

In a separate bowl mix together topping ingredients.

Spoon batter into sprayed muffin cups filling 2/3 of the way full.  Spoon one heaping teaspoon crushed pineapple over top and sprinkle with topping mixture.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Makes 16 muffins.

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Review: Patriots Redcoats and Spies by Robert J. Skead

Book Description

"When Revolutionary War Patriot Lamberton Clark is shot by British soldiers while on a mission for the Continental Army, he has only two hopes of getting the secret message he’s carrying to General George Washington: his 14-year-old twin boys John and Ambrose. Upon discovering that their father is a spy in the Culper Spy Ring, the boys accept their mission without a clue about what they may be up against. They set off from Connecticut to New Jersey to find General Washington, but the road to the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army is full of obstacles; including the man who shot their father who is hot on their trail."

I am always looking for good historical adventure books to read aloud to the children and I was particularly interested in this book because we will be studying American History.  I was pleasantly surprised when I received the book that it was hardcover, not paperback like I was expecting.  It is a great adventure story that takes place just before the Revolutionary War broke out.  Putting a recommended age on it is a little hard.  I would be fine with reading it to my younger boys (almost 8 and 9) but for sure probably 10 and up would be a good recommendation.  There is a bit of violence. Nothing graphic, but a man gets shot, another man we know for sure is threatened and subjected to violence, and one of the twins is beaten up severely.  Also, a knife is thrown at a redcoat and another is shot in the knee.  It is mentioned more than once that horse thieves are hung.  But it was a great story that I enjoyed reading and know the boys will enjoy hearing it.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC regulations.

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Homeschool Wrap Up Week 21

Our homeschool day usually goes from 9:30-11:00 and then 12:30 -2:00.  From 11:00-12:30 is lunch and recess.  Well, recess for the children.  I'm usually making and cleaning up lunch cleaning the kitchen and starting another load of laundry.  But when 2:00 comes (or soon after on the few days we go over) it is time for my recess.  I take some time to relax, usually by reading for 30 minutes or so. Two days a week we have activities in the afternoon and I do not get an opportunity to have my rest time.  Not getting a break 2 days a week isn't so bad but for the last week, we have been so busy that we have had to be someplace every single day and I have not had much time to get a break in, and I am tired!!! Those rest times are important mamas!  We need to remember that!!  We don't do our children or husband any good if we are worn out and cranky.

Week 21 in Our Homeschool

Bible: This week we completed lessons 92 93 94 and 95 in Bible Study Guide For All Ages.

History: This week in History we completed lessons 52-54 in Vol III of Mystery of History on Don Quixote, Australian Aborigines, and The Founding of Jamestown.  We completed the corresponding time line figures and memory cards.

Science: We finished reading chapter 12 on electricity in Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics.  We have studied electricity and magnetism in depth when we did a unit on it from Moving Beyond the Page so it is a familiar topic. We are also working on a review of a website called Visual Learning Systems which is an online science website that has videos, worksheets, and activities and experiments on a number of different topics for primary, elementary, and middle and high school students.  I had the younger children watch a video on electricity and then had Nick and Alex watch the one for middle/high school age students.  Next week we will work on some of the worksheets and activities to go along with electricity.

Grammar/Writing/Literature: Christian completed his lesson in Lightning Lit on Mabela the Clever.  Anthony finished up Ramona and Her Father and started working on another poetry lesson. Nick and Alex finished Lesson 18 of Fix It! Grammar and the three of us finished up Lesson 14 of Medieval History lessons on Writing With Pictures.

Spelling/Reading: Alex finished Lesson 25 of Level 4 of AAS.  Christian and Anthony finished Lesson 6 of AAR Level 2.

Math: Nick finished Lesson 21 of Pre-Algebra.  Christian and Anthony finished lesson 20 of Beta and Gamma.  I worked with Alex all week on long division.  It just may do us both in!  After 3 weeks we still have mastered it so we will be working on it more this week.

Other: Christian and Anthony worked several days with the WeDo LEGO robotics set.  They built and programmed cheering fans at a soccer game,  a helicopter and a sleeping giant that woke up. Then they played around a little bit and built and programmed a few things that they made up.

My Father's World Creation From A to Z

We continued on our study of Insects.  Visual Learning Systems had an insect video for the primary ages, so we watched that video to go along with the rest of our studies.  We had talked about ants and ladybugs last week and moved on to bees this week.  We did a bee painting, drew hexagons, made homemade granola bars with honey, read the Bee Tree, and sang the Ants Go Marching In.  Lily also did a drawing page, cut and paste page, and a blend ladder page.  She was excited to find part of an old bee hive out in the yard.

We finished Insects on Wednesday so on Thursday we started on letter "g" for goat.

Other Activities This Week:

Monday was archery practice.  It was chilly but not as bad as last week!  Only 7 children showed up to practice so they got to shoot 5 rounds and we were done in 45 minutes.

Tuesday was gymnastics.  We also ran to the library.

Wednesday was a stay home day!!

Thursday was gymnastics again.  We had to make up for the day the teacher was out of town last week.  I dropped Lily off and ran across the street with Emmie to do our grocery shopping.  Some may think it's easier to only shop with one child.  That is not necessarily true!  With it being just me and her there is no one to watch her and having only an hour it was a challenge to get done.  Plus I had to put it all on the belt myself get it all in the buggy myself and load it all in the van myself. We made it back with 7 minutes to spare.

Friday was our Homeschool Valentine Party.  I also had to run into Walmart for the three things I had forgotten the day before :)

I hope you had a great week in your homeschool!

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A Homeschool Valentine's Day Party

Friday was the third year in a row that our local homeschool group has had a Valentine's Day party. Before that we spent a couple of years having a Valentine's Day celebration at an assisted living facility.  Valentine's Day is one of those celebrations that can be so much fun for children and do not have to take a lot of money or a huge effort.  You do not need to have a big group either.  If you have a small homeschool group, get together with one or two families, or just do something on your own, Valentine's Day can still be special for your children.

One of the things our group has done is to have each child bring a box for valentines.  Many of the children make a box, but others have bought them, or even brought just a pretty bag or decorated pencil box that they already have at home.  You can make some really cool boxes with little to no out of pocket expenses using supplies you have around the house.

These are the boxes my crew made this year.

Alex made an alien using a box, construction paper googly eyes, pom poms, and pipe cleaners. (Last year Alex didn't make a box because he thought he was too old for valentines, but then he didn't get any candy either, so he decided to make one this year. Nick (13) didn't make box.)

Anthony made a pirate ship using a box, construction paper, and brown paint (I spent $2.37 on the paint since we were almost out of brown)

Christian made The Flying Dutchman out of a box, paper towel roll, and construction paper.

Lily made a minion.  We used a shoe box, 2 rolls of gold duct tape ($4) (they didn't have yellow and she thought the gold was prettier than yellow anyway), painter's tape, electrical tape, pipe cleaner, and construction paper.

 Emelia wanted an ice castle.  Two years ago Lily made a regular castle so I had an idea of how to make a castle and we just decorated it with Frozen decor.  We used a cereal box, teddy graham box, wrapping paper roll, blue wrapping paper ($2), cardboard, foil, construction paper, foam snowflakes (I had these leftover from a Christmas craft), and some glittery shaving cream "paint."  We put some Frozen figures on top of the castle that we already had.

Valentines can be made or bought for as little as .98 a box.  If you buy them the day after Valentine's day for next year, you can get them half price :)  My children think it is so fun passing out their cards!

Our group has done potluck lunch, pizza lunch that everyone has chipped in for, or just had everyone bring a sack lunch from home.  I think the potluck is probably my favorite but this year they decided everyone should just bring a sack lunch.  I got the children Lunchables and Capri Suns, and made enough cupcakes for all of the children coming to the party.  I just did white cake mix and colored the icing pink, nothing fancy.

Some game ideas we have played in the past include Bingo and a cake walk.  This year we played a fun simple game called Cupid's Arrow.  A table was set up with a red table cloth.  Each child was given a straw and 3 q tips.  They put the q tip in the straw and tried to blow the q tip into a heart shaped cake pan.  They each got a Hershey Kiss for playing.  They loved the game!

Emmie didn't play but she liked helping to clean up the q tips that missed the pan.

The game was their favorite part of the party, besides of course looking at all of their cards and eating some candy!

Happy Homeschooling!

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