WORMS!!

We were invited to join in on a great field trip this week.  We went to a local environmental center.  They offer great field trips but you must book well in advance.  The trip we were on was all about composting.  The kids learned about composting both indoors and outdoors.  But the main focus was on the possibility of having a compost bin indoors so you can compost all year round.  The bin they used was made from a plastic storage tote with small holes drilled in it.  The worms they use and suggest for composting are red wigglers.  Here is a link about red wigglers and about composting.  Red wigglers are big eaters so they are great for composting.  You can order them online or buy them at your local bait shop.  The kids learned what you can and cannot put in your compost bin.  Anything that grew out of the soil can be composted and turned back into soil.  Such as scraps from fruits and vegetables, egg shells, grass clippings, leaves, shredded paper.  Never put meat or dairy in your compost bin.  During the field trip the kids were all given microscopes so they could look at some of the compost from the bin.  They got a close up look at the worms and also found some fascinating little microscopic bugs in there helping out the worms.  Lili couldn't wait to get her hands on a worm.  She got one out of the compost and it was very squirmy on her hand.  On the way home both of my kids asked if we could get some worms for our house.  Hmmm.....maybe we can talk daddy into
that.  They will have to live in the basement though.  Luckily the worms in a compost bin can live in a room that is at a minimum of 52 degrees according to the instructor at the environmental center.  I don't think our basement ever gets that cold.  According to the website I linked above you need to find out how much you will have to feed your worms each day, so you will need to weigh your kitchen scraps for a week or so and see what your average amount is.  Then get double the amount of worms.  So, 1 lb food = 2 lbs of worms.  I suppose it would help if I had a kitchen scale for that.  Maybe we can use our scale from our school supplies, it measures in grams but it will be a good lesson for the kids and we can convert the number from grams to lbs.  At the end of the field trip after the kids finished their lunches anyone who had leftover fruits or veggies  (apple cores, orange peels, etc...) were able to feed the worms.  The kids loved it!  So far it has been the best field trip of the year.

*Tip from the instructor at the environmental center: Her worms don't like broccoli.  When she put broccoli in her bin the worms all tried to climb out.  So maybe broccoli scraps are best put in the trash.

It all put me in the mood for spring.  I've got my garden plan already started :)
Happy composting!

"The only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library"  - Albert Einstein

We're done already!

It's the end of the week.  That means it is time to work on next weeks lesson plans.  I was going over our list of what we planned on getting done this year and it looks like we have about 4 more topics to cover and we are done.  It should only take us about 2 weeks to cover it all.  So it is only February and we have finished our goal for the school year.  How awesome is that!  The plan is to have a week of review to make sure all we have learned has stuck.  Then I guess we'll move on to the making a plan for 3rd grade.  Since we are ahead I'd like to give some child led learning a try, to let Lili spend more time learning about whatever strikes her fancy.  Since I sort of backed off a bit on how much she reads she has started going through books faster than we can get to the library.  The other week we went on Friday and by Tuesday she was complaining that she had nothing to read.  She had already finished everything she checked out on Friday.  Our next trip to the library I let her get as many books as we could carry.  I hope the love of reading stays with her.

Next week we will reach our 100th day of school!!  They are so excited.  We have been tracking the days until the 100th day.  I have been browsing Pinterest for ideas.  Here is our plan so far for our 100th day of school celebration.  Most of the ideas are from a site I found off Pinterest and some from friends.  Here is a link to the site for ideas....

http://www.tipjunkie.com/all-crafts/ideas-for-100th-day-of-school/

100th Day of School
1. Make a 100th day of school crown (printable from link above)
2. Make a 100 piece edible necklace (with fruit loops or similar cereal)
3. How far will 100 steps from our front door take us?
4. Draw a portrait of what you would look like at 100 years old.
5. Write about what you would do with $100.
6. Build anything you want with 100 legos.

We will also get to celebrate by going out to lunch with Grammy and several of our Aunts.  It should be a fun day.

Happy 100th Day of School!!  Here's to approximately 80-90 more days until summer!


"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world.  Love of books is the best of all."
        -Jacqueline Kennedy

Learning to work independently

We are all getting bored with the usual daily routine of school and ready for something different. I want to keep school fun and interesting and not let it turn into a miserable chore. I would like her build up her confidence regarding school work. I know what she can do but she is afraid to be wrong. I'd like her to see what she can accomplish on her own without any “hand holding”. So after a little brainstorming this week we tried out an independent work project. Lili was given some ideas of projects she could do that would involve a few school subjects, that she could do mostly on her own and that were also fun and involved some playing. She decided on a project to plan a party. She first wrote out her guest list (printing and spelling) and then created invitations (art). To plan for the party she used a grocery store advertisement (made by me) to create the menu for her party and figure the cost for all of the food she would need. She then counted out that amount of real money to “buy” her groceries. This was all done with play food and the guests were myself, Gabi and a few dolls. So we were able to really have the party. Lili then set up her party and we played for awhile. She enjoyed this project and worked on writing/spelling and math/money both of which are not normally her favorites. They were also used in a real life way which seems to make things stick. I need to get creative and think of more project ideas.

In addition to this project we did do some formal work such as cursive practice but that is still her favorite so no trouble there. We also read lots of books and also played a money game that I saw in one of our Family Fun magazines. This was another fun way to practice counting money. One person choses several coins and counts up the total amount of money. They tell the other player how much money they have and how many coins they have. That player has to try and figure out what coins the first player is holding. We used paper and pencil to help figure it out. One of Lili's Christmas gifts was a chemistry set. We have starting doing some of the activities. We have tested the ph of different liquids such as salt water, baking soda in water, citric acid in water, apple juice, lemonade, milk, etc... Afterwards we kept the cups with salt water, baking soda in water and citric acid in water and let them sit out. The water has been evaporating and leaving behind fun creations. Lili has liked this part the best and show everyone who comes over. She really liked the way the salt left behind salt “crystals” and the baking soda is now a disc shaped solid piece of baking soda.

Sorry no pictures, I need to get on the ball with that. Next week we will keep the camera close by.

"The idea of learning acceptable social skills in school is as absurd to me as the idea of learning nutrition from a grocery store." ~ Lisa Russell

Hiding from the flu

It seems lately I am hearing and reading a lot from family and friends that they are catching some nasty flu that is going around.  We normally go to the library every week but this week I just had a feeling we should stay home.  I did a quick drop off in the outdoor drop box at the library since we had movies due.  So after that our book bins were pretty empty.  Luck have it there is this bookshelf in our school room and what do you know, it is full of books.  I played the part of the friendly librarian and the girls "checked out" books from our own library.  It was actually much needed I think since we rarely read from our own book collection. 

Speaking of library books I think we may have lost our first library book.  I have searched the whole house and the car.  The librarian is checking the shelves there to see if we did bring it back and it just got shelved before being checked in.  So what happens if they don't find it and I don't find it?  What IS the penalty for losing a library book?  With as many books has we check out I guess it was bound to happen eventually.  We have on several occasions reached the limit of how many books you can have out at a time. 

With all the at home time we have been able to enjoy all the wonderful new toys and games we received for Christmas.  Legos hit our house this holiday season and they are a hit.  We attend a monthly Lego club at the library and since we have legos at home to build with Lili presented her Lego tree house built from a kit for the show and tell at Lego club this month.  She did great, didn't seem nervous at all.  And what better time for a field trip with our homeschool group to Legoland!!  Oh yeah!  We are excited.  We have never been to Legoland and have no idea what to expect.

We will be doing our best to steer clear of the flu that is traveling around, stay healthy everyone!

Environmental Education Center Trip

We went on a great field trip last week to the Environment Education Center in Hammond Indiana.  I had never been there before.  You can't miss the building though, it is brightly painted with a huge trout fish painted on the front of the building.  The kids loved it!  They have a fish tank, a toad, a bearded dragon and a guinea pig.  Everyone was able to pet the guinea pig.  They started off with a quick lesson on the building, what they have there and information on the 3 R's.... reduce, reuse, recycle.  Then we went to the "garbage room" or the ReUz room.  This room is filled with donated "garbage", there are bins and bins filled with endless craft supplies (or "garbage") that you can take home with you.  They had ribbon, fabric scraps, empty yogurt cups, bottle caps, wrapping paper, packaging peanuts, wood scraps, and so so so so much more.  We stopped back in there before we left and the kids picked out some crafting supplies to take home.  After the ReUZ room we were off to the trout stream.  We walked over a bridge that takes you over the stream.  The kids fed the trout and listened to a presentation about the care of the trout, wildlife and water.  After getting off the bridge we came to a large tree house.  The kids climb up and a slide takes them back down through the tree.  And you know they had to go through that a few times.  We took a lunch/snack break in their lunchroom after the treehouse.  The kids loved the empty capri sun drink pouches that were turned into wallpaper/backsplash in their kitchen.  They also had quite a few of those large hand shaped chairs all over the building.  They are made from recycled laundry detergent bottles.  After lunch we learned a little more about the trout and played a fun game pinning body parts on the fish while blindfolded.  Sort of a spin on pin the tail on the donkey.  We also learned that the carpet in the classroom was made of recycled pop bottles.  It was a great field trip and the girls are looking forward to going back just to find some craft items in the "garbage" room and of course play in the tree house.  A great resource and I think we may plan another field trip there.   They have a Merrillville location as well and offer many different field trip options.

Check them out here!

FUN FRIDAY

We love Fridays!  I have stopped scheduling each day of our school week and now just make a plan for what we will be doing for the whole week in no specific order.  Sometimes I let the kids choose which lessons they would like to do first.  This is a nice clue for me to see what they enjoy most since at this age they pick that to do first.  I guess it comes with age to do the hardest item first.  If there is a large project I try to encourage that we start it early in the week. 
Now if we get everything done before Friday or early Friday I let them play some fun games to fill in our school time.  They tend to be educational but fun enough that the kids don't know.  Board games are great or they really like to play games online or on the ipad.   So sharing some fun game sites that we may get to use today for anyone else looking for something fun to throw into their Friday or any other day.

Tangram game on PBS here 
There are many more games if you're not interested in tangrams.

To many to choose from here on many topics.

Happy Friday!!

Hello cold season

I just got over my 3rd cold for the season already.  I sure hope I am done and stay healthy through winter.  On the bright side the girls really enjoyed a couple sick days.  Sick days are way more fun when mom is sick and not you.  They were able to play all day and I tried my best to keep my germs to myself.  It was nice to see that even when I give them the day off I still find them working on school related things.  Lili read a few books and tracked her pages read for her reading log and Gabi was writing with Lili's help with spelling.   This past week was back to normal though.   

Lili wrote an acrostic poem about Barbie.  Normally she whines about writing and poetry is far from her favorite thing to write but since Barbie was the topic she didn't complain to much.  Why didn't I think of that sooner?  Same thing with Gabi, if I write as she dictates a made up story she will gladly do the copywork.  Of course the stories are very silly and almost always contain bathroom humor.  She is such a little lady.  At this stage it is just about them getting comfortable with writing.  Both the physical, penmanship and the creativity of making the story or poem.  So if non-traditional stories about toilets and bodily functions or poems about toys are what get it done I'm good with that.
Since I was on a roll with including things the girls love into our school lessons we used toys and things around the house to practice measuring inches and feet.  Running around the house measuring toys sure beats a worksheet.

Lili's new favorite is Venn diagrams and bar graphs.  That is the first thing she will pick if it is on the weeks lesson plans.  The past 2 weeks I have had them both on her lessons and we added a fun twist that left her working on it even after our normal school day was over.  She dressed two Polly Pocket dolls and created a Venn diagram on the similarities and differences between the two dolls.  That was such a huge hit that when it came time for bar graphs I had her sort all of her Barbie clothes in any way she wanted.  She chose to sort them by color.  Then she wrote down her results and created a bar graph to show the data.  Now if I can get her to enjoy all her school work that much.

Our homeschool group had a Halloween party again this year.  The kids love it!  They all dress up in their costumes (and so does this mommy), eat pizza and play some fun games together.  They had quite the full house this year since our group is growing.  Throughout the year we also enjoy many field trips, outings and park days together. 

Fun links I would like to share!!..............

*Madlibs has been a wonderful resource for learning nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs, plural and singular, past and present tense.  Lili has picked up on it much faster and is retaining it all so much better since we started regularly doing these madlibs stories.   She loves this madlibs site and after you create your madlibs story you can print it out.

 *Education.com is awesome.  It is becoming my go to place for worksheets, printable games, etc...  We tried out this spelling dice game and Lili actually gave it a try.  She normally shies away from spelling.  I am trying to build her confidence in trying to spell words even when she is unsure.  This was a fun game.  Here is a link to the game.

*This came in an email from clickschooling.  I get their daily emails.  This site is for learning about science and some math through games, music and videos and it is very cute.  I haven't had a chance to look through the whole site but it seems geared toward younger children.  Check it out here.

Time to work on lesson plans for the next week or two.  Happy Sunday and have a great week!


“You will not reap the fruit of individuality in your children if you clone their education.”
― Marilyn Howshall