The science lab from Lowes

Tell me this thing is not adorable! There were even activity/experiment cards to go with it. The kids have already decided we will be doing them next week. Lowe's Build And Grow is getting better and better. I took alot of pictures you can see here. I thought this was just awesome.

Week 10

This week was mostly just math and language arts. I did get the Autumn download and go to start next week though! My kids are getting better in math I am so thrilled with that. The boys are finally up to Lesson 22 in math u see so maybe we can actually start a new level by the new year. They like the clock building. My kids like building anything though.







On a brighter note our elf came back!! We were so happy to see our little buddy again. Of course he has already gotten into mischeif the little fool.

There he was was Monday morning sound asleep on the coffee table with one of Skylers blankets pulled up over him.

On Tuesday morning we found him in a candy coma from eating the rest of Devlins Halloween candy, awww poor guy!!

This morning we woke up to that little buggers fudge! We all love Little Elf and cannot wait to see what her gets up to this year.

Wordless Wednesday

A pumpkin lunch!!

I have come to the conclusion I am slowly getting obsessed with making cute lunches. Yep that pizza is shaped as a punkin and those oranges have green stems! I used a bit of pipe cleaner there. I am also running out of cutesy cups! I am for sure making the whole Halloween themed on nest week!! Yes I well, the kids are excited!

Week 8

Yep I got creative with lunch this week lol. Those little bones are just too cute in the apple sauce grass with the pile og eggs dontcha think? I found ths site and fell in love. While I can't do all this all the time it was a fun thing to try. The kids adored it even my oldest thought it cool to have dinosaur bologna! The little cup just happened to be at Walmart for $.80 so who could resist that? While looking around the web I have seen some amazing creative lunches. I just think WOW that is some time to have. I also think I would get burned out pretty quick and it wouldn't be fun anymore. The kids call it fun lunch and I already have the whole pumpkin theme going on in my head for nest week!!

We worked on the basic stuff this week of course. First language Lessons, Math U see, Pathway Readers for the boys, All About Spelling and Explode the Code for Skyler. She is doing pretty good in math as of lately. She was such a struggler last year until I finally gave up and just stopped all formal math. She played games and found a new favorite movie, Mathtacular. She really likes this and will watch it over and over. It must have helped something click because she has been doing great with math this year. She even took her first Unit Test and only missed 1. YAY SKYLER!!!

Of course we did science this week. Alot of bone work! They had fun with this. Science seems to be all their favorite. They love Brainpop and experiments and seeing things you just don't see everyday! Bones is really great to be doing right now so close to Halloween. We love Halloween here. Trick or treating and dressing up like super heros. They love to see others costumes as well. I was pretty thrilled to see the 14 year old still wanting to dress up. A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle of all things, and I may be a bit biased when I say she makes one beautiful mutant! Halloween is amazing to us. The worls is falling asleep for Fall and scary movies. We love it! They also got to go to a pumpkin patch today and if I figure out how to get the pics off my phone I will post those. They even had little picture stands setup with hay stacks and backgrounds. I was sad to have forgotten my camera.

They also did some nature study as well this week and one activity here fit great with our bone study! Fox and Damian are still working through lessons 18-19 in Math U See they just don't seem to be able to add multiple numbers. Fox did have a break through on Thursday though which was wonderful. He gets angry with math and I can so relate because I HATE numbers. Math is a fight and it always ruins our day. I told him the angrier he got the worse it was. Thursday he sat down and he said I will not be mad. Well instead of getting every problem wrong he only missed some. I corrected them and gave it back to re-do waiting for the fight...it never came. He was so proud he actually got some right he was happy to correct them. When he got them all correct he looked at me and said, "you told me not to be mad so I didn't get mad and you were right mom and look I didn't have all the problems wrong and it didn't take all day".

That was too amazing to hear from him we have a rocky relationship! That made my day. It was better than pizza, a new book even a shopping spree. Moments like that make all the aggravation seem worth it somehow. Makes me feel what I do everyday matters. Well it was also crazy to see that both boys have really had some growth spurts as of today all their jeans are wayyy to short! See another reason to love Fall, SHOPPING!

Week 7

Well we are on week 7 and it feels like we are already behind! GRRRRRR The boys are really struggling in math seems they have both been stuck on the same stuff forever. We did manage to get through week 4 of science though so thats good! Sometimes our days go wonderfully smooth other days it is like a HUGE battle. We were lucky to get through the basics this week with all the bahaviors my wonderful little boys had. We did have a good science week you can read all about it here.

Week 2

Well week 2 has come to a close today! We started science this week. You can read all about our science plans here. I felt that it deserved it's on place. This week we had some distractions in the form of behaviors and the car having to get fixed but I still tried to chug along. We also started using Brain Pop and I cannot say enough about that site. I really like Brain Pop and so do my kids! Skyler is still all about Head of the Class as well. She really enjoys that and the fact that it is free well, all the better! We are still doing the flat traveling and state box exchange on the facebook group homeschool swapping adventures. My kids still really love that as well. You can read all about our adventures on that one right here. I tend to get all clustered when there is too much in one place so I like certain things to have their own space so to speak! I know I need to update all the things we are using now and I will get around to that sooner or later anyway lol. Two weeks down thirty something to go!

We worked on newspapers this week. Talking about what they were and everything. They also made some of their own personal newspapers as well. This picture is Skyler working on hers! Notice her hair is pulled into a pony that is a major big deal as she hates piggie tales but I am so tired of her hair in her face!

Our first day back!!

Today was our first day back at school! YAY!! I have come to the conclusion I hate breaks. There is too much time for nothing and they wind up driving me insane. I really truly wonder how I used to deal with summer vacations when they went to school. Oh, I just remembered, they went to daycare and I was at work or school. I miss those days sometimes. I miss college. I did well there and actual adults cared what I had to say. I do love being with my kids though so I know I got the better part but at times I do miss adult interaction. Anyway today started off a bit rough for Fox. He is my"difficult" child. We all have one of those, right?

We strted our day off with the new morning board I have put together. Calendar, weather our phone number and address as it seems I had neglected to make points of those since we moved! What basic stuff we overlook when worried about everything else! They liked the morning board and especially the temp. chart. We have a clock in the house that tells the temp and a gauge outside so it was fun for them to compare the difference. We also made it the first day using our workboxes and schedule strips. I am in love with this by the way.

It was so wonderful to not hear, "Mom how much more work?" I hate hearing that all day. This way they can just see exactly what is going on each day and they have it all figured out! They liked having everything in their baskets to as far as pencils, crayons and such. They did their work, asked for help when needed and it went pretty good for a first day. As a special little treay they had fun boxes at the end of their schedule.

The boys had airplanes to build and paint and Skyler Bay got a mini glass tea set. It was a fun little extra for their first day and they really enjoyed it. Now if I can get Fox to keep his glasses on tomorrow then it will be even better!! We also decided that this year we want to have a 100 day party to celebrate 100 days. If you would like to see any more pics of our first day please go here.

Back To School Party

Today we had a back to school party! If all goes according to plan we start back Monday. We continued the German tradition we started last year of the school cones. They are filled with just some small goodies for the kids. Play-dough bags, little lego people, art packs and such. Just a little something extra for fun. We started it last year and the kids really liked them so there you have it!

We had make your own ice cream sundays, cookies and playing after spending the morning at Lowes building little lockers.

Here they are opening all their goodies. skyler Bay was thrilled with Captain America stickers and the boys were super happy with mini lego figures. Fox got spiderman and Damian got green goblin so they had to battle it out!

FIELDTRIP!

Jacksonville Zoo. It was very fun to see all the animals. We haven't beeen to the zoo in over a year since we left IN. So not only was it a fun day but to a place we had never been! The only dissapointment was no real ocean animal displays. My kids are really into sharks and dolphins so that was missed. We did get to pet some sting rays so that was awesome and we also fed a giraffe.

Damian really liked petting the sting rays!

While Devlin is no longer homeschooled she is still my daughter and when I get a picture I am proud to post it! Look at that beautiful girl feeding one of her all time favorite animals!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Happy Birthday Baby

That is my baby! Today she is seven years old. I think of where we were when she came, where we are now. All the in between. All I have learned from having her. She has her fathers eyes, it's nice to see them looking at me with love instead of anger. She has my love of all the little animals. She loves clothes like her big sis, she loves dirt and legos like her brothers. She is the best little girl I could have hoped for. She can love on her hamster and beat up her brother five minutes later then run in the kitchen and smother me with kisses. God blessed me with giving her to me even if I didn't realize it at the time, I know now. It has been a crazy roller coaster since she was born, I can't wait to see what is going to happen in the next seven years. Happy Birthday my little princess, I hope you always stay the same loving little angel you are now.

Today We Built A Solar Oven!

Today we took a pizza box and made a solar oven. We used the directions from here. I know you will get a ton of hits if you just put in make a solar oven on google. It was pretty easy and the kids enjoyed it,

Well this is our oven all ready to cook some bagel pizzas. The kids ate them happily and were pretty darn proud of theirselves at that. After a little research we found even more recipes that could be used here. We were so excited we forgot to let the oven preheat so t speak. It makes cooking time faster so don't forget. I also think I was suppose to put black construction paper inside which I skipped. That may have made it work better.

Crayon Learning Camp Activities

After skipping two day we are back to the cute little online summer camp from crayon box learning.  Today we made cute little stoplight snacks and drank motor oil (rootbeer). The original recipe called to use rice crispie treats but they had none at my walmart and I just was not in the mood to make them, so graham crackers here we go! The kids still loved them though and that is all that matters. The colored Cars pictures and Skyler did some tracing with shapes and letters. A nice little fun thing that occupied them for a bit!

Crayonbox Learning Camp Today

Today from Crayonbox Learning More Cars! Skyler enjoyed tracing alphabet letters with her Car friends and the boys used the Cars tiles to unscramble everyones names.

We watched the movie today

Today being saturday and all was pretty lax and we enjoyed the movie Cars on TV. Went right along with what we had been doing all week so the kids thought that was just awesome!

Cars Fun

Once again we are enjoying the hard work from the crayonbox learning. She really designs such cute stuff. They are really having fun with this. She had a board game this time based on CARS. I had this little box so I set it up for the game with the title and some stickers.

 My kids had a blast racing all the little characters around that board!

Fox and Skyler really enjoyed drinking motor oil (rootbeer floats) and eating tire tread pieces (black licorice).










We have so enjoyed all the fun stuff based around CARS. I can't wait to see what ideas she comes up with next!

Online Summer Camp

The kids are participating in thios really neat online summer camp. It is sponsored by crayon learning box and it is so cute! She will be doing a few different themes the first one is based around Route 66 and the new Pixar Cars movie. She sends you activities each day that may or may not be a printable, games and even treat ideas! Today the kids drank piston juice, which reminded me of the green antifreeze. You can see there are also little namke tags which my kids thought were cool. We designed an car and a truck today as well as played bingo. It was a fun little extra to add to the day. Skyler said she can't wait till tomorrow.

We dissected a shark

This is the first dissection we have ever done. I allowed it to be totally child-led with them just being curious asking their questions instead of worrying so much about "the lesson". If upu would like to see more graphic images you can go here. Keep in mind they are graphic so don't look if it will freak you out. As you see in the second picture the sharks tail was snapped. In the Fall we will be doing Human Body and dissecting a sheeps brain, cows eye, pigs heart and a sheeps kidney. I felt this was a good kick off to get them interested in it. My youngest Skyler was not too thrilled to see the shark had an eye. It really seemed to bother her. I think they will all do better with single organs though. If not then we can still say it was done during their schooling!

FIELDTRIP

This past weekend I took the kids to Stephen Foster Cultural Center. Stephen Foster wrote the state song for FL as well as many others.

The song, "The Swanee River (Old Folks At Home)", words and music by Stephen C. Foster, was adopted as the official state song of Florida on May 25, 1935. The kids had alot of fun touring all the dioramas.

 The artwork is almost all Christy Paintings depicting the songs written and composed by Stephen Foster, The dioramas also are depicting his music.

This is a piano that Stephen Foster played that my beautiful little girl Skyler and my little guy Fox is standing in front of. Yes I know they are very photogenic. The race car in the back ground is part of our United States geography that we are doing called flat traveling.

Workbox idea!!

Christie Robello over at R Homeschool Hale had a very cute idea with her son. He really enjoys seeing that he is DONE so he gets a check card to place on his drawer. I think this would be a wonderful idea for kids who are very visual and it would eliminate the need for a schedule strip as well. Which could overwhelm a kid having all these different things to do. He puts his check card on the box and he knows he is done.  

Little Organ Annie

This is little organ Annie. She is full of organs even her arms have musscle and bone. The little grey guy with the graduatin cap by her arm is her brain. She is so very cute My kids fight over the little organ people allll the time.

I LOVE THIS SITE!!!!!

The Head of The Class is a wonderful site. I just found it lastnight and it is so great. You can set up each child a student account which makes it even better so nothing gets confused. I also noticed if you have two kids in same grade their work is not the same so that was neat. In a sense it reminds me of the online K-12, only free, more parental control and much more fun in my kids opinon. I have yet to find answer keys on anything but I haven't needed them so maybe when I do I will find them lol. The following is a copy of their website

Head of the Class provides preschool through eighth grade parents, learners, and teachers with free access to curriculum-based content. Organized by grade-level, you will find instruction, activities, and multimedia on reading, math, spelling, writing, art, history, music, geography, science, Spanish, and more.
At Head of the Class, we believe education should be free. Our team’s goal is to make education readily available to everyone. Our software works on PCs, Macs, as well as Smartboards with no downloads or special software required.
Head of the Class was created for all learners. Advanced learners have the opportunity to move ahead one or more grade levels; learners who have struggled in the past, can build a strong foundation for success; other learners can master fundamentals that take them to the Head of the Class.
Within Head of the Class you will find:

• Thousands of pages of curriculum-based instruction organized by grade level
• Hundreds of videos presenting a variety of art activities
• Thousands of dynamic worksheets, the contents of which change each time you open them
• Hundreds of applications that teach math, phonics, spelling, and much more
• Online coaching and encouragement from Happy & Max
• Hundreds of multimedia presentations on science, geography, history, and more
• Baseline test instruments you can use to measure your learner’s progress
• … and much more!

Wishing you success with learning, The Head of the Class Team


I have also found plenty of reviews online and am reading only good things. I cannot beieve something like this is out there and I never knew. I truly wish I had found this forever ago.

Lowe's Build and Grow

At Lowe's yesterday the kids made a Mothers Day vase. It was really cute. The front of the heart is a chalkboard. It amazes me how cute these projects are years ago when we started this they were not up to the quality they are now.

Jr. Blacksmith Class for the boys!!

Today the boys took a Jr. Blacksmith Class at Stephen Foster Cultural center.    They had a BLAST!!! Fox has been running around all day shaking everyones hand blacksmith style. They loved actually using real tools and heating the metal. Their teacher was a great retired math teacher/engineer and they had alot of fun with him. The whole center is just wonderful and HUGE. The museum was wonderful and beautiful. Fox loved the dioramas and Damian really liked the huge paintings. All in all it was a great morning and the boys happily showed off their hooks to anyone who would look at them. Of course Damian once again gave his up to baby sister Skyler because that is just the little boy he is, always thinking if baby sister didn't get something. He is so sweet with her!!!

The boys had a blast and they loved getting a "diploma" as Fox called it lol.

Lego Thursday!!

This is Fox. Fox loves legos. He likes kits, things he dreams up himself and will try to make anything you ask him too. This is the mad scientist dissecting lab. As you see the mad scientist is dissecting a creature called "The Beast".

This is a rescue guy in his travel copter. Not quite sure who or what he is going to rescue but that is what Fox said he does so there you have it!!