First art lesson!

We are doing art on Wednesday afternoons. Last week I got a childrens book of famous art from the library, and the kids enjoyed looking at the paintings. After we looked through the book together I found the horse section in a Draw write now book that I got from the library. We are reading black beauty, so that's why I chose horses. Buster sketched the horse, and I sketched one for Sweetpea. When they were done I had them paint them with watercolors.

Buster's work

Sweetpeas Black Beauty

Tot School! Finally back!

We started school last week! It has been going great! This year I will be featuring Buttercup for tot school only. Sweetpea will be 4 on October 31st and I'm treating this year as her PreK year. Buttercup is 18 months old and very curious. I have been occupying her with different toys while we do school. Of course I had a hard time remembering to take very many pics because I was busy with the older two, but here are some from this week. As the year goes on I plan to give her more variety of activities, and take more pics.

This one is actually from July, but it is Buttercups first painting.

Playdoh time! She really wants to eat it!


Stacking blocks!

More Charlotte Mason

I came across this while looking through some booklists on http://www.amblesideonline.org/index.shtml and I thought is was so sweet. I even printed it out for myself.

"A Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six"
A reprint of a curriculum outline from a CM school in the 1890's. from Summer 93 Parents Review pub by Karen Andreola
1. To recite, beautifully, 6 easy poems and hymns
2. to recite, perfectly and beautifully, a parable and a psalm
3. to add and subtract numbers up to 10, with dominoes or counters
4. to read--what and how much, will depend on what we are told of the child
5. to copy in print-hand from a book
6. to know the points of the compass with relation to their own home, where the sun rises and sets, and the way the wind blows
7. to describe the boundries of their own home
8. to describe any lake, river, pond, island etc. within easy reach
9. to tell quite accurately (however shortly) 3 stories from Bible history, 3 from early English, and 3 from early Roman history (my note here, we may want to substitute early American for early English!)
10. to be able to describe 3 walks and 3 views
11. to mount in a scrap book a dozen common wildflowers, with leaves (one every week); to name these, describe them in their own words, and say where they found them.
12. to do the same with leaves and flowers of 6 forest trees
13. to know 6 birds by song, colour and shape
14. to send in certain Kindergarten or other handiwork, as directed
15. to tell three stories about their own "pets"--rabbit, dog or cat.
16. to name 20 common objects in French, and say a dozen little sentences
17. to sing one hymn, one French song, and one English song
18. to keep a caterpillar and tell the life-story of a butterfly from his own observations

First Day Of School!

We started school on Monday! I want to get some extra weeks under our belt, so I will be free to take off some time when the baby comes. The kids were all actually excited about it, and so far this week has gone great. I have really enjoyed all our new curriculum choices. Buster has been asking to do phonics, and told me "Phonics is actually fun". Sweetpea has been following right along, and I give her something to occupy her when Buster needs one on one. Yesterday she wanted to do Phonics Pathways too, and she read Cat with some help. She was very excited about it. Today she didn't want to do it so we didn't. My husband is going to be doing Science and History for me when he gets home, and they did their first History lesson yesterday. I told Sweetpea she could listen if she wanted. It was really cute because she sat through the whole thing, and actually listened better than Buster. As usual Buttercup is right there with us too, and has been having fun with toys while we work.

Buster took this picture of us girls.

The three musketeers!

and the two crazies!

Our School Room!

With my husbands help last year we turned our laundry room into a school/laundry room. I thought I'd give you all a quick picture tour of our set up this year.

Here is our calandar and flag.

I have been seeing the workbox sytem everywhere lately. The idea interests me, but we don't have room for two racks. Instead I found these magazine holders at Big Lots and we have one for each day of the week. I like the idea of stocking them on Sundays.

Here is a TV and where a bunch of our stuff is stored.

The kids pet frog.

Another storage unit. The top drawer is science stuff, second is educational games, and the third is craft supplies.

Our new world map. I found this at Target after much looking. You can see our stack washer and dryer in the corner.

US Map from the dollar tree.

Buster's weekly boxes. Sweetpea participates in some of his stuff though. They are on top of a book shelf.

Here is the kid's work area.

VBS, School, and Charlotte Mason!

Our church had VBS this last week! The theme was Paul and the Underground church. It was a really great VBS the kids had a blast. I was exhausted though because I helped out as a group leader. No pictures of course because there was no way I was carrying around my camera all day. This weekend I have been getting things ready, because Monday we are starting school. I'm really excited about this year, and so are the kids. Lately I have been reading up on Charlotte Mason, and her educational philosophies. I checked out A Charlotte Mason Education, More Charlotte Mason Education, and for The Children’s Sake from the library. I have also found a ton of info online. I'm really excited about implementing more of her methods. It is great reading about it because it is exactly the education that I have wanted to and already to some extent have been doing. I still consider myself eclectic, but I will be leaning more toward CM this year. Buster and I went to the library today, and found some great books for school next week. I started reading Black Beauty to the kids this week, and began trying to get Buster to Narrate back to me what he remembers from the chapter. The first time I asked him he couldn't remember much, but when I explained that he needed to listen more carefully because I was going to ask him each time he did much better. I'm enjoying the book also because I've never read it. We will be incorporating copy work, nature journals, art/music appreciation, and living books as well. I have always strived to read great books to my kids, so it isn't exactly a new thing. I think I might read her actual books next. For those of you who have no idea who she is, or what I'm talking about here are some links:
http://simplycharlottemason.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Mason
http://www.amblesideonline.org/WhatIsCM.shtml
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/methods/CharlotteMason.htm

More waterfalls!

After a second round of blueberry picking last Saturday we took the kids and shecked out two waterfalls. Both of them I had been to as a child, but we had never taken the kids to them. We all had a great time enjoying nature together. The kids did great one waterfall was 1.5 miles and the other was 1/4 of a mile. They did not complain, and walked the whole way, except Buttercup who rode on daddies back. To get to the second falls we had to take a crazy drive on a couple BLM roads, but it was worth it.

Hanging out and enjoying the scenery.

Wolf Creek falls

Sticks, what more could you need.


Grotto Falls


Behind the falls.

Trying to find a creature.

We set the camera on a rock.

See the face looking down at Buttercup and me.

In the cave behind the falls.

Ultrasound!

I had my ultrasound today, and everything looked great! We are having another BOY! The kid's are very excited. It has been six years since we had a baby boy, so I'm excited too! Now if we could only think of a name.

Play-doh fun!

I wanted to make some new play-doh for the upcoming school year, our last batch needed thrown out. For fun I decided we would make a rainbow of playdoh instead of just one color. I quadrupled the recipe and then diveded it uncolored into seven bowls. Once divided we colored and kneaded them. I knead the dough like pizza dough with plenty of flour until the colors are fully mixed and it is no longer sticky. I had to add yellow food coloring to the the yellow, because the yellow Kool-aid did nothing. Also the blue was made with food coloring because apparently the blue pack of kool-aid I bought turned out to be red. Here is the recipe:
3 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
2 packages unsweetend Kool-Aid
2 cups boiling water
3 tablespoons oil
Mix dry ingredients together in bowl. Mix the liquids together and pour them over the dry. Stir the mixture until it forms a ball. As the mixture cools, it will become less sticky. After it cools take it out of bowl and knead until smooth.

Sweetpea is very excited about all the new colors to play with!

Buster is 6!

Well our little man turned 6 on Sunday! I can't believe it has been that long. He is getting so big ;( At his 6 year check up he weighed 58lbs and is 4ft tall now. We had a Superhero party planned for a local park, but of course the only rainy day of July was Sunday. We ended up having it at my moms instead. Buster says it was his best birthday ever, so I guess it was a success! Here are some pictures of the big day.

Curriculum/Scheduling '09-'10

I do have pictures from Buster's birthday and I will post them shortly. I finally recieved all the books I purchased for school next year. I'm really excited about it and wanted to share my plans with you all. Here is a list of what Buster will be using for first grade:

Math: Horizons 1
Phonics: Explode the code books 4-6
Phonics Pathways, Reading Pathways
Science: Apologia Land Animals of the Sixth Day: Exploring Creation with Zoology 3
Christian Liberty Nature Reader, Book 1, Second Edition
Live Butterfly Garden
History: History For Little Pilgrims
Geography: Map Skills, Grade 1
Art: Draw Write Now, Book 6: Animals and Habitats - On Land, Ponds and Rivers, Oceans
I can draw animals, Usborne playtime(I found this at Salvation army for 15 cents because it was 50% off day)
Writing: He will be finishing 1st grade handwriting without tears, and journaling
Spelling: Basic Skills 1st grade spelling, and these two sites http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/spelling-levela.html
http://www.spellingcity.com/
Bible: The Explorer's Bible for Kids: Explore and Live God's Word (Nkjv), The Children's Illustrated Bible
Spanish: so far I have Spanish Write and wipe book, but I hope to find something else to. Buster Keeps begging me to teach him Spanish ever since he heard his soccer coach speak Spanish.

We are doing animal themes that will last 2.5 weeks each. This will coincide with his science book for the most part. I have been collecting a bunch of childrens reading books from thrifts store that go with our animal themes, and we will use the library to fill in what I don't have. Also I plan to do some lapbooks and I will find most of them here:
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Lapbooks_at_HSS.php
Here is a list of the animal topics:
Animal Classifications
Dogs
Bears
Cats/Rabbits
Marsupials or Birds
Monkeys
Mice/rodents
Elephants
Farm Animals
Reptiles
Frogs
Dinosaurs
Spiders/Insects
Snails/Worms or Fish
A couple of these I am unsure of yet.

I purchased my books from Amazon and CBD

For Sweetpea I will be doing PreK work. For her I have purchased
Get ready for the code, Get set for the Code, Go for the code by Explode the code
Phonics pathways (she insists that she's going to learn to read this year. We will see)
Christian Liberty Nature reader K (It has one story for each letter of the alphabet that goes with an animal) and a mess of little dollar tree workbooks.
For her I will be doing one letter of the alphabet for every 1.5, and she will be making an alphabet notebook. In this order based on her ETC books. Here are some sites I plan to use for her:
http://www.carlscorner.us.com/
http://www.starfall.com/
http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/index.html
http://www.goodnightstories.com/images/alphabet/alphbet1.htm
http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/
http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/
http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/
A
B
F
M
K
R
T
E
P
J
I
H
S
N
D
O
C
L
G
W
Y
V
Z
Q
X
U

I will be introducing Buttercup to TotSchool
http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/
http://totallytots.blogspot.com/http://

Here is a basic schedule of what subjects we will cover weekly:

For Buster:

Monday:
Phonics
Math
Reading
Spelling
Bible

Tuesday:
Phonics
Math
Reading
Writing
History
Science

Wednesday:
Phonics
Math
Reading
Spelling
Art
Music

Thursday:
Phonics
Math
Reading
Writing
Geography
Science

Friday:
YMCA
Lapbook
Notebook
Special Activities

Sweetpea:
Monday:
Phonics
Math
Bible

Tuesday:
Phonics
Math
History

Wednesday:
Phonics
Math
Art
Music

Thursday:
Phonics
Math
Science

Friday:
YMCA
Alphabet Book
Special Activities


I will keep you posted on how it goes. So far all the books look great ;)
Here are a few more sites I found lately that have been helpful:
http://thehomeschoolclassroom.blogspot.com/
http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/
http://thecurriculumchoice.com/
http://heartofthematteronline.com/
http://www.ourlifestyleoflearning.com/
http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/real/standards/#

I couldn't do a homeschool post without a plug for the Old SchoolHouse Magazine.
http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/
Finally here is a site I have found very helpful when choosing curriculums:
http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/

Cmping/Beach/July 4th

We had a great 4th of July weekend! We decided since my husband had a three day weekend we packed up the van and headed over to the coast as soon as he got off on Thursday. The first campground we tried was full, but there was a small private one next to it. We were able to find an opening there for Thursday night. The kids were so excited they have been asking to go camping for months. The camp site was really close to the beach, and it had its own trail right to it. We had a really fun time there, and came home Friday evening. We set off of few fireworks Friday night when we got home. On Saturday we went to my Aunt and Uncles for their annual barbeque. In the evening we went to my sisters for some fireworks, and then walked over to the city park for the big ones. It was a great fireworks display and all the kids including Buttercup loved it. Also this weekend I reached the halfway point for my pregnancy :)
Buster turns 6 on Sunday, so I will be posting more pics soon.