Having fun with school!

After school today, Jack made this comment to me: "Thanks for a fun day of school, Mom!" That really warms a homeschooling momma's heart! Jared tends to agree with Jack. He has been heard saying that "school is getting more fun all the time!" What are we doing that they think is so much fun? Well, let me show you.

After having a "duh" moment while reading my friend Rhonda's blog at Alston Academy, I went out and bought Jared a box of play money to help him in that part of his math lessons. It's so much easier when he has something tangible to touch & use rather than trying to learn an abstract concept. Here he is counting money during a math lesson.

This week in social studies, Jared & Justin have been learning about farmers & how they serve the community. Yesterday they made a barn book with pages of different kinds of farms & what we get from them. We have pictures of a rice paddy, an egg farm, a banana plantation, an orange grove, a dairy farm, and a cattle ranch. We discussed other types of farms as well.

And here they are with a picture wheel they made today depicting the process of how we get milk...from the dairy farm to the grocery store.

I promise Justin does know how to smile & he has a beautiful smile, IMO, but for some odd reason he likes to get all goofy for the camera and just looks like he's in pain. lol

In science, Jared & Justin have been learning about the weather. Last week I shared a picture of them setting up a water cycle. This week they made a cloud in a jar (or glass in our case).

First, we poured a glass full of very hot (steaming) water & then poured out all but about an inch. Then we covered the glass with plastic wrap.

Then we topped that with ice.

And watched the glass "cloud" up. The boys thought it was super cool. :)

Just for fun, Jared & Justin sat down with a wooden gingerbread man kit & put these together.

The hole in the center is for a picture, but we haven't done that part yet.

Jack is still plugging away at his Middle Ages study & he's working on a lapbook from Hands of a Child to go along with it.

In science, he has been learning all about cactus deserts and the animals that live there. He's been working on a lapbook from Homeschool Share on desert animals, and finally finished it today.

He's very proud of himself, and very well should be! He did this lapbook completely on his own. He did all the reading, cutting, writing, arranging, and gluing himself. I'm very proud of him as well! He thoroughly enjoyed doing this project.

Now for some big news for Jared.....he finished his first whole book today!!

Just look at him beaming with pride! It took him a while. The book was 143 pages in length. But he persevered & finished it. I couldn't be more proud!

 

It sure is Monday...

What a day! First the cat that's decided to adopt us came in smelling like a skunk. Jack frustrated me with his grammar because he apparantly slept through all of his grammar lessons since 2nd grade! The previously mentioned cat decided to dig in the bathroom trash & proceeded to poop in it because no one would let him out. I'm about ready to quit my diet because after 3 or 4 weeks I've still only lost the initial 3 lbs lost in the first week. I'm ready to crawl back into bed & pull the covers over my head until everything decides to cooperate and go my way! Yes, it's one of those days, Charlie Brown. >.<

Eye doctors & dentists

This was a busy week around here. On Monday, all 3 of the boys had a dentist appointment for their regular 6 month cleaning. Jack & Jared were cavity free. Yay!! That's twice in a row for them. :) Justin, however, had 1 cavity. We went back Friday to have it filled. They performed a new procedure called air abrasion (I think is what they called it) where they use sand of all things to "wash" the cavity out rather than drill it out. He didn't even need a deadening shot! He just had a little laughing gas to keep him relaxed. It was pretty incredible to see someone (I was in the room with him) have a cavity filled without novocaine. And he did amazingly well throughout.
Wednesday Jacky had his regular yearly eye appointment, and has to have new glasses...a slightly stronger prescription.
Thursday, Jack & Justin had their regular yearly eye appointment. Justin has had glasses since October '08. He only wore them during school time. That is, when I could convince him he needed to put them on. He now needs new glasses & has to wear them all the time. He has difficulty seeing close up (is that near-sighted?) and an astigmatism.
Jack has had perfect check ups since he was 6. I was shocked to find out at this appointment that he also now needs glasses. His vision is fine, but he also has an astigmatism.
So off we went Friday before Justin's dentist appointment to pick out frames & order glasses. Justin was determined he wanted to look like Spongebob when he wears glasses. lol These are the frames he picked out.

Jack was very excited to pick out his frames. He tried on many different ones: rectangle, oval, square, black, silver, colored, pewter. I think he tried on every pair of kids glasses they had on display. lol He finally decided on these.

What we've been up to

Here are just a few things (aside from the regular math,
spelling/phonics, & grammar) the boys have been
doing since starting school back up after the Christmas
break. This will get long, so try to bear with me. :)

Jack:
He's been studying the Middle Ages in history. He is
thoroughly enjoying it! I'm having him read fictional
books that take place during this time period. So far he
has read


And is currently reading


We're using this unit study from Teacher Created Resources
for alot of the work.


And we're also using the Magic Tree House Research Guide
for some additional information.


Some of his work...
He's done a couple of notebooking pages courtesy of
Notebooking Pages dot com.


colored a map of medieval Europe


created his own guild sign to show what job he would like
to have had in the middle ages (a knight instructor)


and wrote a limerick


In science, he has been studying about cactus deserts &
the animals that live there. We've been reading this book.


And he's been putting together elements for a desert animals
lapbook found at Homeschool Share.


Now, Jared & Justin. They are doing the same things
in social studies & science because it's just easier that
way. I will share some of Jared's work in social studies and
Justin's in science. So, in social studies they have been
learning about the different community helpers. So far, we
have learned about policemen, firefighters, doctors, mail
carriers, and librarians. They also did a venn diagram
comparing policemen and firefighters, and learned about
safety, their address, phone number, how to use a phone
& dial 911 in case of emergency.


They even wrote letters to some friends, counted out money
for stamps, & stuck the letters in the mail box for the
mail man to pick up.


In science last week they did a refresher on the different
seasons.


This week we started a unit on weather. We've already
covered weather this year, but I had some different activities
I wanted them to do, so we're covering it again. The past
2 days they've learned about the water cycle.


And once again, we made our own water cycle. That never
gets old. :)




In reading, Jared has been working through this Dick &
Jane book that I found at Books-A-Million.


He didn't want to read it at first, but after a few stories,
he started enjoying it. He only has 3 stories left! He should
be done with it on Monday. :)

And last, but not least, this past weekend the boys were
sitting around bored and decided to put together these
wooden 3D puzzles I got on clearance at Michael's a
while back.


Well, I hope you've enjoyed my "little" update. In the future
I'll try to blog more frequently so as not to let it get away
from me and make these posts too long. lol

Christmas Break update

Here's a quick update of some things we did while on Christmas break.

The kids decorated the tree.






We got a little snow.


Jack built a mini-snowman. lol About as good as it gets here.


We made some Christmas sugar cookies.


Had a visit from Santa. ;)


And visited with family. While at my inlaws house for Christmas my brother-in-law let the boys dress up in his military uniforms.


He isn't enlisted anymore, but he was in both the Marines and the Army at different times. He let the boys put these on long enough to pose for a couple of pics and then back into the closet they went. I was surprised the army jacket fit Jack as well as it did!

That's by no means ALL that we did over our Christmas break, but it's a pretty good recap. :)

Back to school

After a long Christmas break, we're back at it. We actually started 2 weeks ago, last week being in full swing. I hope to start getting some pictures again & blog more frequently.

Thanksgiving Notebook

I have been introduced to this thing called "notebooking." To me, it looks like a great way to combine learning with fun. I decided to try our hands at making one, so we did our first one on Thanksgiving. I think it turned out pretty good, and I believe the boys have even taken something away from it all as well. Yes, I do believe they may have actually learned something! lol In hopes that you won't get bored looking through our book, I'll share it with you all through pictures. =)

We learned a few "Mayflower Facts."


We learned some of the basic needs that the pilgrims brought along with them on the Mayflower.



We mapped their journey.


We learned the parts of the Mayflower.




We learned about their lives during their first year in the New World. Jack drew pictures of their homes, clothes, chores/jobs, and the way the got around (by foot).


We learned about the types of food that was probably eaten at the first Thanksgiving in America, and then compared it to the foods we have at our Thanksgiving feast each year. We also all took turns weaving a construction paper placemat to display this information on.


We learned the way the indians taught the pilgrims to grow corn, and made a turkey just for fun.


In conclusion Jack wrote a little bit about the first Thanksgiving in America, and we drew up our Class Compact (after learning about the Mayflower Compact).


Earlier this morning, before working on our notebook, we did our felt turkey baskets. The boys really enjoyed making these! Aren't they so cute?



So that was our day today! Whew! All in all, we had a very fun day with lots of learning mixed in. =)