Day #25/175 Days

I have stepped back from school for the last two weeks while I try to figure out what's working & what isn't. A lot isn't. I'm spending my days printing lots of stuff & figuring out new systems and what not. Today though we accomplished a few fun things.

The first idea was a fall sun catcher. I saw the idea at Frugal Family Fun Blog (she has some really neat ideas for very frugal crafts for kids) back in September. I kept it in my Google Reader inbox for quite some time & the boys & I finally made a couple today. I was at the tail end of my contact paper but was able to get enough to make two. Thank goodness Miss H was sleeping but we'll do another one for her soon.

Click HERE for directions on how to make an Easy Autumn Tree Sun catcher.

Then we played a game of Dora The Explorer Chutes and Ladders. Let me just say "thank goodness it didn't last forever!" ;-) The boys love it when we play games though so we'll be adding in more over the coming months. I think Happy won.

We then moved on to another craft. I again heard about it on Chasing Cheerios (a great blog for learning with little ones) but the directions are at Make and Takes. These are adorable little apples and we made some pumpkins as well.

Happy winding up a pumpkin - his finished apple is right there.

Conductors finished pieces - two apples & two pumpkins.

Happy's finished products - two apples and one pumpkin.

Click HERE for directions on how to make these.

Next they played another game. It is a fall tic-tac-toe game. Remember me saying I've been spending a lot of time printing & laminating stuff? This is one of those things. It's found at ABCteach in their member section.

The boys played one game & then I played Happy. They liked it. It's quick & easy & since everything is laminated, reusable as well.

Conductor was then sent to read a book (Lego-Man was reading this whole time) & I set Happy to doing this 100 Apples Page. I hear about it at My Montessori Journey. She has a post explaining how it's used in her classroom with a link to the website she found the free download on. Happy was very proud when he finished this.

Off to do some more printing and laminating. Hopefully next week we'll have our new & improved homeschool up & running!

Day #24/175 Days

Just AWANA club....

Happy completed his first section towards earning his rank & earned his uniform tonight.
Conductor is continuing to work on his gate.
Lego-Man is still doing a great job with the Cubbies (3-4 year olds)

(I'm sure there were more educational things they did this week, but I didn't write them down so I'm only counting this.)

Day #23/175 Days

Reading Time:

Leaf Trouble by Jonathan Emmett
The Clever Apple Pie by Francis Moshley
Fairy Houses by Tracy Kane
The Train by David McPhail

Math - MUS

AWANA verses

Writing journal


Little ones:
colored books on new table


(short & sweet since I didn't remember to finish this up & make it pretty until a week later)

Day #22/175 Days - Apples!

We spent the morning at a local apple orchard. This orchard makes apple cider right on the premises so we were able to get a tour of those facilities as well as where they store their apples for the winter.

I had all the kids with me. Mr. H started out in the stroller but it was easier to plop him in the Snugli for the tractor ride so he was carried for most of the morning.

They unfortunately were not pressing cider today but we did get to see where it is made & it was explained how it worked. Here is some cider left in the holding tank after their last batch was made.

After our tour we hopped on the trailer for a ride out to the orchard. I think the kids liked this part the best. We didn't have long there to pick - about 15-20 minutes tops - but long enough to fill our bags up. Even Miss H picked 1-1/2 bags. They were tiny bags but just right for little hands.

Conductor filling up his bag with apples.

On the ride back we all sampled an apple (or two). Even Miss H liked hers. They were Macouns and very tasty.

At the end of the tour we were all treated to some apple cider. Miss H really liked the "juice" & drank down a whole cup - more or less. A lot of it ended up on her shirt & pants so we did have to do an outfit change but she was happy nonetheless.

We ended our day at the orchard with a picnic lunch. There was a great climbing tree near where we were sitting and Conductor promptly scampered up it - mud boots and all. I, of course, had to grab the photo op.

Day #21/175 Days

Every September in Unity there is the Common Ground Fair. This is a very old-fashioned style agricultural fair with a strong environmental vibe to it. I love it personally. My biggest reason - I don't have to worry about the rides and fairway enticing the boys since there isn't one!

On opening day they let in school groups as well as homeschoolers for free - which is why we go that day. I did spend $5 to park because we didn't get there early enough but it's worth missing the horrendous traffic jam of cars getting in to the fair. As it was, it still took us about an hour to drive from the center of Unity, park the truck, and walk into the fairground. Nuts I tell you - but worth it.

I never feel like we see enough but by the time we arrived on the fairgrounds it was 11am & we stayed until 3pm. We met up with my sister & her family & spent the day together. The extra adult help was nice since I had five kiddos with me. The two younger boys spent a lot of time off with Auntie & Uncle -thanks guys!

When we first got there we headed to the folk art tent. Did I mention how cold it was! It was about 50 degrees out with a gusting wind. It was extremely cold & two of my boys managed to get out of the house in shorts. My first order or business was trying to find them some affordable hats (I spent too much money for little fleece hats but they were cheaper than the all wool ones for $30+ each) to help keep them warm. It wasn't until we were leaving that I remembered the extra clothes packed in the truck which included pants! Sheesh!

Lego-Man was again my roving photographer & did take most of these photos. I'm not sure what this first was is of but he took it while in the folk art tent.

Okay - I mentioned how cold it was right? This guy was outside the folk art tent demonstrating how to tan hides (he's working on a deer skin). You can see the long sleeves, the hat, and even the chaps to help protect him from his sharp knife. I'm not sure you can see that he's barefoot. He wasn't the only one either. It made me shiver every time.

I had Miss H & Mr H with me as well. They spent most of the day in the stroller but Miss H was able to get out & move around quite a bit. Mr. H stayed in there for the most part but I did carry him some...

Did I mention how cold it was? I started the day with him in a Snugli facing out & my fleece jacket zipped up around him. I did think to grab one of Happy's hats for Mr. H - thankfully. He was also in a very warm fleece one-piece outfit - with footies. I think he was probably the warmest of everyone there. Oh & the looks I was getting with him like this was pretty priceless.

The fair has a wonderful children's area. One thing they had there this year was a display called "winter kids." The kids did a relay race wearing snowshoes. It was a blast to watch.

Happy racing against his cousin.

Conductor had a "moment" at the relay race. I had just arrived & he was pouting & had been crying. Apparently he tried to do the race with snowshoes on that were too big. We had a chat & he decided to try again with ones that fit. Check out his form.

And I, of course, grow "locally grown" kids. ;-)

Another really fun part this year was the hay jump. In years past they have just had a bunch of loose hay on the ground for the kids to jump & play in. This year they still had the loose hay, but they had a bunch of hay bales stacked behind it for the kids to climb up on top of & jump off. They loved it.

Conductor

Lego-Man

He was great & brought Miss H up 2-3 times for her to have a turn. It was a bit too much for her, but they had a volunteer there helping little ones off. Miss H kept wanting to go again so I'm pretty sure she liked it.

Happy - this kid LOVED this!

There was also a "Mudmobile" at the children's area. They handed out a glob of clay/mud to each child & then they could make it in to something. All of the older kids (all except Mr. H) tried it & made something. Okay, I did a lot of helping with Miss H. I let her carry a small piece of it until she started chewing on it. blah!

There were also boards full of nails for the kids to pound in. I felt sorry for the volunteers here who had to keep banging them back out for the kids to bang right back in again.

One more locally grown kid. ;-)

At one point I took Mr & Miss H & Lego-Man over to the amphitheater. There was a group there playing Irish music. I bought a large popcorn on the way (yummy - organic popcorn with safflower oil & sea salt) & Miss H, Lego-Man & I all shared it while we listened to the music.

I took this photo of Mr. H while he sat in my lap.

Don't let this photo of Miss H fool you - she spent over half her time here - after she was done eating - she danced to the music. It was fun to watch.

After we were done at the amphitheater we went to find my sister & the rest of the boys. They were on the other side of the hill doing this.....

I convinced Lego-Man to take Miss H. I think she liked it. ;-)

I'm pretty sure they could have all stayed here for the rest of the day sliding, but we moved on. Mr. H had not napped as well as I had hoped. Our next stop was the sheep dog demo. I love this part of the fair & we typically start our day here. These dogs are really amazing at what they can do at just a whistle. They had goats this year for the first time & the dogs did as well with them as they did with sheep (which they had too).

Our day ended by quickly checking out some bunnies and the poultry barn. There was so much we missed but we'll be back next year!

Day #20/175 Days

Today was our second LC Bates class. It was all about "pond life." The boys & I had actually taken a two hour class of a similar title this summer but it was a very rainy day & we never made it to the actual pond. Today we never made it in to the museum. I'm pretty sure the boys enjoyed this more. At least these two did....

This is Happy with one of his friends. Whenever we get together these two want to play together. They are about 1-1/2 years apart (maybe 2?) but get along very well - usually.

The biggest excitement when we got down to the pond where two large snapping turtles (pretty sure they were of the snapping variety) were, well, um, "wrestling" in the middle of the pond. At least as far as we could tell - they may have actually been fighting but we were too far away to tell for sure which was probably a good thing.

There were tons of little frogs hanging out on lily pads. There were nets for all the kids to share & they went & scooped up some water or mud or muck or all the above & then went through it to see what they found.

I want to publicly thank my sister & Happy's little friends mom for taking on two of my boys as I held Mr. H & Miss H & Lego-Man was my roving photographer (he took most of these photos). Thanks everyone! I couldn't do this class without your help.

A couple small crayfish were also found. One of them (I think the smaller one) actually shed it's exoskeleton while it was in the container & Serena was passing around other critters for the kids to look at. That was pretty neat to see.

We ended the class with all the critters in containers & Serena explained what each one was & what their role in the ecosystem of the pond involved. We had asked Serena what the biggest find might be - that elusive critter that one doesn't always get to see - and she said it was a water scorpion. About five minutes later my nephew caught one in his net. That was interesting to see!

We found LOTS of frogs. That big one in the front is about two years old (according to Serena) but most were frogs hatched this very year. The kids also caught tadpoles, damselfly nymphs, dragonfly nymphs, whirligigs, and more!

The kids left happy and muddy so I call that a good day.

After the class we headed to one of the local parks & let the kids play. I didn't grab the camera & Lego-Man was too busy playing to snap photos. We stayed for about an hour & then headed home for nap time for Mr & Miss H.

Day #19/175 Days

Kindergarten
Today was a "Happy" day it seems. I'm still trying to figure out what type of schedule will work best for us. I worked with Happy first thing this morning on his school work. We completed:

• Handwriting page "b"
• Phonics - I'm switching to Alpha-Phonics as it's worked with the older boys & I know this program.
• Scissor work
• Logic - we used Mind Benders from Critical Thinking
• Workbook fun - I have a kindergarten workbook that we'll use just for fun & easy skill building
• MUS Primer

For the rest of the boys, we only did:

• MUS
• Writing journal
• Literature (independent reading)
• PE
  

Conductor finished out his day with soccer practice.