Back to school 2013-2014

We are four weeks into our new school year.  Gabi is reviewing some work from her Kindergarten year last year and will soon be moving on to first grade.  Lili is adjusting well to the big jump from 2nd grade to 3rd.  Gabi loves anything she learns using the iPad.  She prefers touching a screen to holding a pencil.  I suppose that is becoming the norm for kids.  A colorful, musical math game must be more exciting than a worksheet.  We still do our fair share of pencil and paper in addition to enjoying some educational games.  Lili loves to read and is tackling bigger chapter books on her own.  She has been known to max out her library card.  Both girls love art.  Lili enjoys painting and Gabi has a knack for taking household items and a variety of office supplies and turning them into art.

Our homeschool group is growing fast this year.  We have had 3 field trips so far this school year.  We went berry picking, an educational outdoor hike through the parks dept.  and an exciting tour at Metro Recycling.  We have a hayride coming up for the group.  We have had close to 30 families sign up for the hayride, which is a total of 80 attending so far.  It still surprises me to see so many homeschooling families from our local area getting together.  We really enjoy the monthly field trips and weekly park days.  The girls have made so many friends through the group.

I was looking for an enjoyable way to get the girls writing.  They need the practice and repetition of spelling, grammar but without the torture of daily worksheets.  A class newspaper is recommended for 1st-3rd grade so I put a twist on the class paper idea and opened a private facebook group for them to share their writing with friends and family.    The feedback and interaction with everyone regarding their writing I think will be motivating for them.

More to come about our daily adventures in homeschooling, field trip fun and hopefully pictures when I remember to have the camera on hand.

You Rock!

Lili and Gabi have been collecting rocks for a few years now.  I don't know why it didn't occur to me before to do a lesson on rocks since they love them.  They find neat rocks outside in the yard, on a walk, at the beach, etc...  They bring them in the house, wash them and add them to their collection.  Sometimes the rocks get painted too.  We have many painted rocks displayed in our school room and the girls have given painted rocks as gifts to their grandparents.  Lili even painted some rocks to sell at her Grammy's yard sale last spring.  She sold several of them at her lemonade stand.

So today we dipped our hands in those rock collections and did some observations of our rocks.  We read a bit about different types of rocks.  Then is was time to bring out some tools.  We used and string and a ruler to measure our rocks,  a balance scale to weigh our rocks, magnifying glasses and a mini microscope to get a closer look at our rocks and our science notebooks to record our findings. It was definitely a fun activity for us all to do together.  Below is a picture of some of our tools.

 

 And this is what Latte, one of our two cats does during school time.  It is a pretty good time for a quiet cat nap.

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!