fall nature art

Nathan is a little artiste so I've been thinking what I wanted to do with him with art. He loves colors, so I wanted to do something with that. I want to expose him to different art mediums, and give him lots of things to look at to inspire creativity.

So, I saw this at a store:

And it gave me an idea. I bought canvases at the store and acrylic paint- red, yellow, blue, white, black and brown, and mod podge. We went outside with a basket, and the kids collected fall leaves. We brought them inside and for the background color, we tried to match the colors in the leaves we found. I showed Nathan how to mix colors to try and get the color he wanted. Then when the paint was dry, we could take scrapbook patterned paper to mod podge a picture on it, or mod podge the leaves we found on it, or just paint a picture on the background. All the pictures turned out very creative! Nathan took one leaf, matched the color and put the leaf on it to "camoflouge" it on the canvas. On another picture, he put the leaf on first, put color over it, then took the leaf off so there was a white outline of the leaf where there was no paint. On the canvas he matched a brown leaf color, blotted it with paper towel to add texture, and then took a tree stamp without paint and stamped it on, so it took paint off in the shape of a tree. This turned out really cool! With Katherine we mod podged a leaf on, then I gave her fall colors of paint and she had fun painting. Then we blotted off the paint with paper towel to add texture. Alex was at boy scouts when we did this, so he'll do it when we come back. I'll put these on the wall. Do you see the colors in the "stencil picture" of Nathan's from the leaf? He used a different leaf for the stencil since he painted over it.

my schedule right now

6- exercise


7-math with Todd, spanish

scriptures and scr masteries

clean up time 30 min.

school- writing

            reading silently or to me with nararrations

           grammar/editing

           spelling/phonics

           vocabulary

          chicken fat, PE cards

          lunch

          M/W science and music (learn about instruments, listen to music, go to concerts)

          T/Th history and art (how to draw, Masters book, projects)

(Fridays- charter school; Sundays self esteem lessons and write in journals; Sat. school planning time, plan menu for week, grocery shopping, cleaning, family activities)



3- architecture building book, Faith in God, Explorer of the World book, practice instruments, ASL, handicrafts, typing, drawing



6-dinner

7-family time, play with kids 30 min., dates, FHE

8-ready for bed, showers

8:30 read to kids, read silently

9- bed time

explorer tool: canteen

I did a treasure hunt for their next explorer tool: a canteen.
I gave them an envelope, on the outside it said "An expedition for courageous young explorers. Mission inside."

Clue #1: What is the MOST important thing to an explorer? Clue: look up 1 Nephi 11:25. Your next clue is where you get this important thing.  (Answer: water. the next clue is wherever they get water)

Clue #2: WATER! Do you feel thirsty? Get a drink! Then, go to a thing that lives in water! (our fish in the fish tank).


Clue #3: ALL living things need water. In Lehi's dream, what did the "living water" mean? Go to your bed to find out!

On their beds were their canteens ($4 at walmart in the camping section) and this note (shortened version for Nathan):


Dear Alex,
Here is another explorer tool: a canteen! It gives you water on your journey. Without water, you would die. To an explorer, food and water are the most important thing. In Lehi's dream, the "living waters" represented the love of God. God loves you SO much! He is the father of your spirit and YOU are HIS child! I feel the love that Heavenly Father has for you and I hope that you can feel it too. As you are an explorer this year, one of your most important things you need on your adventures is the love of God- to know it, to feel it and to believe in it! Every time you drink from this canteen, remember:
GOD LOVES ME!
Have fun exploring!
Love,
Mommy

writing while exploring

Since the boys just got new pocket knives (see previous post), for writing today they went exploring outside, pretending to be on an adventure, and wrote down their "field notes". They just wrote down what they were pretending. This was the best creative writing that Alex has ever done!
Alex's:
Sept. 14, 2010
Right now we are making salad. How to make salad: 1 lettece leaf and 2 flowers. Now I am eating lunch. We found crops- yes! It is time to return to our tent.

Nathan's
Sept. 14, 2010
We found lettuce! We found pretty roses, too! I found crops! We found the exit-wahoo!

Kind of like a nature notebook, but much more manly:).

More on "courageous young explorers"

We were reading in the Book of Mormon about how the 2,000 stripling young warriors were very courageous. They had never fought before, and they were young, and they were fighting the most powerful Lamanite army, but they were not afraid because they thought more on the liberty of their people than their own lives, and their mothers taught them that if they had faith in God, He would be with them. The Lamanites were defeated and not a single one of the 2,000 stripling young warriors were killed. We talked about the "sword of faith" and gave them their next explorer tool: a pocket knife (aka "sword" of faith). We gave them the one with the tool linked below:
pocket knife
pocket knife with tool
They are very excited about the pocket knives. We made rules about them to keep them from hurting themselves. We are planning a camping trip maybe this weekend to show them how to use the tools on their pocket knives and they can practice being "courageous young explorers".

Some ideas

This year we are going to have the theme of "courageous young explorers." The kids will be courageous young explorers this year, exploring the world around them, and exploring within themselves. I've given them some tools that explorers need, for them to use throughout the year. With each tool, we talk about it. For example, a flashlight. Explorers need flashlights to see in the dark. We also need the light of Christ to help us see in the dark. As we explore this year about the world and about ourselves, we will need the flashlight and the light of Christ to help us explore and learn. We've also done a compass, a magnifying glass, binoculars, and the flashlight. I'll probably get a canteen (Christ is the water of life, what we need to fill our canteen spiritually, physically and emotionally this year), some rope (choosing good friends, having good habits, etc), a map (praying, reading the scriptures, patriarchial blessing), some kind of tool like a hatchet or pocket knife or something (sword of faith), backpack, etc. The boys have had a ball with this so far. And when we were being explorers at the tidepools and Alex started whining because his shoes got wet, I said, Explorers don't whine when their shoes get wet!! And the boys laughed and forgot about it. And another time when things were kinda crazy, I said we were having an adventure as explorers! And it worked. I got the idea from listening to the talk in the April 2010 General Conference Priesthood Session by David Beck. I told the kids about what he said about explorers: going out of their comfort zone, doing what no one had done before, etc. We'll also learn about different explorers this year.
Other ideas for themes of the year I had:
discoverers

courageous young explorers
champions
leaders
adventurers
detectives/ private investigators (completing top secret missions)

missionaries/pay it forward/teachers (teaching what they know to others, helping others with what they know)

Other ideas:
1. Ask a question about what you are about to study that day to get them interested, and focused on what you are saying because they are trying to find the answer. For example, at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, we were about to see a short presentation about sea creatures of the deep. Before it started, they had the questions, "How do the animals live under all that water pressure?" etc.

2. Homeschool for me is about: Preparing my kids to have every opportunity when they grow up to do whatever they want, Helping them love learning and encouraging their curiosity, Keeping their bright minds sharp by challenging them (vs. wasting the great minds God gave them), and Having a relationship with them. I remember my Nana taking me to the tidepools and other fun things, and I didn't remember the names of all the animals found there, but I remember the feeling of having fun with Nana, and all those fun times were building a framework of a relationship and a feeling of love, security and self worth and an identity. Being here with my Nana right now, I have been thinking: I don't remember everything that she did for us, but I remember Nana's house was always fun, and that she loved me unconditionally. All those forgotten moments are threads in a beautiful quilt of a relationship and feeling loved. From that foundation, I have the confidence in myself as an adult to know that there are people who love me just as I am, that I can succeed in the world, etc. My parents did the same thing for me, but I was just thinking about the tidepools, and that Nana took me when I was the boys' age, and wondering if my boys will remember this trip in a few years. But then I realized it's not the remembering, it's the feeling and the building of the foundation of the relationship--their springboard.
 I need to remember HOW I'm teaching and interacting with my kids. If I am frustrated, impatient, angry, etc. they will not be associating school/ learning and fun, and I will not be building that foundation for the relationship and give them the feelings of love, security and identity. HOW I teach is just as (if not more) important than WHAT I teach. Listen to D. Uchtdorf's 2 talks from the April 2010 General Conference about this. I am Christ's hands to my children. How would He treat my children? What and how would He want me to teach them?
click here for Uchtdorf's talk on Patience
click here for Uchtdor's talk on love

3. Homeschooling is so much fun! This week while everyone was having their first day of school sitting in a desk in a classroom being told "Be quiet!" (while the moms stay home and clean--my worst enemy and life-sucker), I was having fun with my kids at the Monterey Bay Aquarium doing science, doing writing by playing restaurant (and learning how to cook), and doing math by singing math songs in the car on the way to our next fun thing!

Being TOO overprotective

I put up a post a while ago about being protective (click here to read it). You can definitely be too protective and deny your kids the opportunity to grow and have good experiences and gain new insights and learn from good people. I don't want my kids to be so "protected" that they never get a chance to practice defending themselves and their beliefs when it's little things, so that they know how to handle it when the big things come along. I'm not homeschooling my kids to "protect them from the world." But I'm not going to let them stay in a class that makes them miserable 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, to make them "stronger." . I want to teach them to be proactive and change their situation instead of staying in it and being miserable. I homeschool because I don't want my young kids going to school for most of the day, coming home and going outside to play with their friends, eating dinner with me and then going to bed. I don't want them to be 6 years old and spend most of their time away from me at school and with friends. I would feel that my role as a mother would no longer be the teacher, but the maid, cook and chauffer. The week that my kids were in public school, that's what they did. I had no idea what they were learning, how they were doing in school, how they were doing socially, etc. I tried emailing the teachers many times, and left messages at the school, and they never responded. Not only was I not my child's teacher, but I had no part in their education whatsoever. In kindergarten I signed up to be in the PTA and asked several times to help out in the classroom, etc., but I never could. Because every child's mother in the class was in the PTA, they said they assigned different mothers to help with the holiday parties. When they are 6 they are so young and still learning right and wrong and forming their identity, etc. and I want to be the one to teach them that, not school and friends.

I also think that my boys are pretty smart, and I really didn't want my boys to be bored and not be challenged. That's such a waste of a great mind, which is a gift from God. Todd hated school because he was so bored, until they put him in a "gifted" classroom with 3-6th graders. Our school has no gifted program. I also love to teach my kids, and I want them to love to learn. I don't want my kids to say, "I hate school." Ok, I have heard my kids say they don't want to do school before, it's not all fun and games, and it's hard, but in my kids' prayers they say, "thank you that we could do school today." Yesterday my Alex woke me up and said, "Wake up! Time to do school!" After taking our summer break early because I had a baby, Nathan started saying in his prayers, "Please bless we can do school again." I remember that most of my school years growing up, I would get frustrated because the teacher spent SO much time on classroom management, that we couldn't just learn. I don't think that all of public school is bad. I don't think all of homeschool is good.

I also don't want my kids to not have the opportunity to be an example to others. When I met Todd, he made me (and still does) want to be a better person just by who he is. It's important that I give my kids the opportunity to strengthen others, without dragging my kids down at all. This is a balance, and different for each child. Some kids may be stronger than others.
That's what I have in my head right now. I may add more later.

good job

Yesterday was a hard day. Doing school is hard enough, but really tricky with a crying newborn and a tantruming 2 year old! I needed to hear, "You are doing a great job," you know? Moms don't get that very often.

But today I thought about the last time I told the boys, "you're doing a great job." I expect a lot from them, and sometimes they just need to hear a "you're doing a great job in school" at the end of the day. I said that today and from the boys' faces, I could tell that they needed to hear that too.

spelling aids

We're going to get donuts today at 4:00 if they promise to never forget how to spell "when" :)

scripture mastery game of the day

This morning we played a scripture mastery game the boys loved. I put a blanket on my head like a shawl and said I was a princess maiden come to ask the wise and brave knights to come and save my people from the terrible monsters. They took turns playing the game. Then I put my black skirt over my head and we got the swords and the first boy fought the "monster". After defeating the monster, he had to recite a scripture mastery to pass through the portal to the next level. The portal was a blanket I held up for them to go through. After defeating the 3 monsters, they had to recite the newest scripture mastery to go through the last portal to restore the kingdom and go back to the people. When they went through the last portal, the people cheered and tickled the wise and brave knight:).

-Today we read about snow and rain and made paper snowflakes for their weather books and for window decorations.

scripture mastery game today and other stuff

-This morning for our scripture masteries game, I printed out all of the scripture masteries we've learned, and cut them in half-- first part and second part. I had the boys go upstairs and I hid the papers all over the room. I told them that a hurricane had come (we learned about hurricanes yesterday) and had scattered the scripture masteries all over. They had to fly in their hurricane tracking planes, find the papers and put them back together. They loved it, and found all the matches. For doing such a great job, they both earned a "10 min. break" certificate to use whenever they wanted during school.

-Because we are learning about weather, I got an abridged, illustrated version of "The Wizard of Oz" for our read aloud book that they really love. I've noticed that Nathan has gotten SO much better at listening to the read aloud books. I think it's because he's older, but mostly because we always do it. I love reading to them and listening to books on CD with them.

-I haven't done art with the boys at all this year. I have a great plan and everything! Maybe I can start that next week and spend the weekend planning it and gathering supplies.

spelling give away

Angela is the winner of the spellQuizzer!

Thanks to everyone who played!

Lots of good fun stuff going on!

-I decided our scripture mastery study needed to "step up a notch" (or two or three). So I spent all day on Monday looking up scripture mastery games we can play to learn them. Yesterday we played "Brain Surge", a tv game show on Nickelodeon the kids love to watch. I was the game show host and we tried to make everything like the show, but I asked them scripture mastery questions for the questions. For the end part where they go on the tile path, they say the scripture mastery they are learning. The better they recite it from memory without prompts, the more time they get for the path. We do the path on the tile floor, and if they pass the first path, they get a small candy, the second path gets half of a candy bar, and the last path gets a whole candy bar. I told them they can't get a candy bar every day, but yesterday and today we did the Brain Surge game. Yesterday they got a half of a candy bar and today they both earned a whole candy bar. They REALLY loved the game, it made them motivated to learn their scripture masteries, and we spent a lot more time learning, reviewing and talking about them than before. On the LDS site if you click on "memorize", it has tools to help you memorize the scripture masteries. I have it bookmarked so the boys can go on it to practice so they can do better at the game. Yesterday they were both on it! I got my scripture mastery games from a site called Latter-Day Village. You can sign up for a free 7 day trial there to go to "resources" and "seminary" and "filing cabinet"; then "scripture mastery".

-We are making our weather books and Nathan said, "I like the discovery part, reading about it and learning about it, but the writing part is torture!" I think they'll like the end result when they can look at the books they've made.

-Today instead of doing a grammar workbook page, we wrote our contractions on the table in shaving cream.

Valentine's boxes

Tonight the boys and I made their Valentine's boxes. I got them boxes at Roberts and they picked out Val. paper and we mod podged it on the box. I think I had more fun than them:). The mod podge was not all the way dry in the pictures.

weather books

The boys were asking lots of questions about hurricanes and tornadoes and earthquakes and things, so we decided to study weather (and volcanoes and earthquakes) first. We read a few general kids weather books and then we made covers for our books, cut out of magazines (don't ask why Alex has a V8 on his??). We'll make a book out of our reports we do on weather.

dioramas

I saw this product today at Roberts and I'm so excited!! I LOVE doing diaramas! Here's some of their idea pictures. (I better buy some stock in this company...)

giveaway!

I am hosting a giveaway of the SpellQuizzer! It's a spelling program that helps kids learn their spelling and vocabulary words. The section specifically for homeschoolers is here. It was not designed with any one spelling curriculum in mind. In fact, it should compliment virtually any spelling curriculum since you create your own custom spelling lists. There are also several free downloadable spelling lists on the website that include pre-made sound recordings. There is a 30-day free trial: download here.

To enter the giveaway, leave your full name and email in the comment section, or send it to me by email at snuggles2901@yahoo.com.

I'll pick a name out of a hat next Sat. Jan. 30. Good luck!

body books

I got a good idea. I saw someone had made a book by cutting and pasting magazine pictures onto construction paper and then laminating it and then spiral binding it. I thought maybe we could make a page for each body system report and pictures and things and they'd have their own body books.

I am back!

I'm finally feeling better and we're back to doing homeschooling full swing like we did the beginning of the year! During the sick months of my pregnancy, we just did writing, reading and math.

Here are some things I wanted to write about:
math: I printed off the book Memorize in Minutes from this website and got it spiral bound for a dollar. It tells stories and pictures to memorize the multiplication tables and is great.

Science: We get educational videos from the library to watch in the car while we are driving around. We are also doing "research reports" where we research a subject and then write a report about it.

History: We are learning about colonial times, one of my very favorite parts of history! I got some activity books for colonial times. I have a fiction book that is more the beginning of the Revolutionary War, so I want to find a fiction book that is between the Pilgrims and the Rev. War. I plan on using my own words to explain what I read out of the text book.

Writing: They write in their journals most days and I don't correct that, except backwards letters and numbers (we're really focusing on reversals). To help them with reversals, they each have a chart. If they get 2 or less reversals in their writing (they can look at their alphabet strips) they can check off a box on their chart. After 5 checks, they can do a fun activity date with mom or dad. They also write reports for science, write letters to family and anything else I can think of. I made them spelling books and got them bound (maybe 50 cents) for each of them. I printed out the high frequency words and alphabetized them in columns with space to add more words. When they ask how to spell a word, we add it to their spelling book. That way I can tell them to look up a word and it will help them remember it because they have to look it up each time they can't remember it. I also put some spelling words as their passwords on the computer. I ordered a spelling program and a book "games for writing" that haven't gotten here yet.

a new post!!

For science we did an experiment: we baked 4 half-batches of cookies: one control group where we followed the recipe, one group we added an extra egg, one group we added 1/2 cup of flour, and the last group we added 1/2 tsp. more of baking soda. The boys took scrupulous notes, and we started writing our report today.

The control group:
the extra egg group:

The extra flour group:

(no pics for the baking soda group)

Taste testing: