Week three...

We collected fall leaves, and 'laminated them'. We also played in the leaves! What better way to enjoy fall:)

We started reading 'Papa Picollo', which is one of the Five in a Row books. It is a really great story about a Tom Cat who lives in Venice and ends up 'adopting' two little kittens who don't have a home. We started a 'Lapbook' about cats including what they eat, what kind of teeth they have, how they communicate, etc. We painted a picture of 10 cats using potatoes to stamp their faces.

I'm realizing Elliott is quite the little sous chef! It seems that lately when I am cooking, he often pulls up a chair and joins right in. I'm amazed how much both of them know about cooking and what ingredients you need. They often collect the ingredients I need, help measure, stir, etc. Today Elliott even helped form the biscuit dough into biscuits...and did a great job!

We went to Penner Pumpkins with most of our homeschool co-op, and had a blast! Noelle even went on the zip-line which was pretty high up. Way to go!

We also had our homeschool co-op on Thursday, and went to the Zoo today with Grandma and Grandpa Mills to celebrate Malia's first birthday! It was a full week, but a really good one:)

week two

Elliott's Ping Drawing

We had a very full week! I'll try to remember what we did...

We learned about different kinds of ducks, and watched videos about ducks swimming, hatching out of eggs, etc. Did you know there is a kind of duck called a Red Headed Duck (I think that's what it was called) that says 'Meow'? Me neither!

We talked about 'Ping' from 'The Story About Ping' and how he was a lot like Jonah from the Bible... Also about how we can pray for 'discernment' (I didn't use that exact word;) and God can help us see whether something that looks good actually is good.

Noelle and Elliott drew their own pictures of ducks (Noelle actually showed different stages of a duckling hatching out of an egg...amazing detail...right down to the pieces of broken egg shell on the ground, and I was really impressed with Elliott's detail as well. We also made ducks (they drew their own) and decorated them with feathers.

Elliott's ducks (left)

Noelle's duck (right)

Noelle's duck drawings

Elliott wrote his name for the first time!

We did some more lessons in our Reading Made Easy...we're up to lesson 6.

At our homeschool co-op we worked on our lapbooks, sang, danced, played games....

We baked together a couple of times. Talked about how two half-cups is the same as a whole, the importance of following the recipe...this is Math!

We played Dr.Seuss games....ABC (great game), One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Go Fish, Green Eggs and Ham....

That's all I can remember for now:)

Week one...

Wow, what a busy week this first week has been! I wanted to do something special with the kids for the first day of school, so we gave them each a new book for there Leapfrog Tag reading system. Then we had breakfast and read the Story about Ping for the first time (this is the first book in our Five in a Row curriculum). Afterwards we did a little experiment about buoyancy. We went around the house and collected various objects to test. Then I made a chart where we wrote the name of the object, our hypothesis, and then whether it sank or floated. It was fun! And really neat to hear them try to figure out why things sank or floated. WE came to the conclusion that it depended on the shape and what it was made of. Then we made up our own outdoor scavenger hunt (Noelle's idea) where they had to find various objects outside. Then to celebrate our first day of school, we went to a park together and to McDonald's for supper!

Another day this week we looked on the computer to see what the Yangtzee River in China looked like, and then the kids painted a picture of it, complete with mountains and trees, and then we counted all of Ping's family, and glued on construction paper ducks to represent them in the river (68 is a lot of ducks to cut out!).

On thursday we had our first day of Heartland Homeschool Co-op....and it was great. Noelle said it was the best day of her life! We have a devotional time as a group, then the younger kids did some work in our Ping lapbook, then snack all together, then the younger kids had gym time, creative time (which was worship: dancing and soaking), then lunch with everyone together! What a priviledge it is to be a part of:)

There is a really great website: http://www.starfall.com/ that the kids have been doing some extra letter, phonics, and reading on. It is great! Lot's of levels to choose from. Elliott has been working on individual letters, and letter sounds. Noelle has been working on letter blends and reading simple stories using the letter blends. DEFINITELY worth checking out!

Noelle did lesson one in 'Reading Made Easy' by Valerie Bendt. It is very user friendly, and the lady who gave it to me said it was wonderful.

So that was week one!

Our homeschooling journey...

This is a blog for me to record our homechooling jounery: the activities we do, the things we learn, and the fun we have! Feel free to pop in and check out what we're doing each week!