Bug is totally getting into the whole "My Project" thing. We have recently moved into the world of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals. While pouring over some prehistoric ZooBook Magazines my mom lent him… Bug came up to me with a activity guide (which I didn’t know was in the set) saying "this is what I’M doing next for my project." He wanted to make a Boxasaurus. Sure, sounds like fun!
We spent several days collecting boxes of various sizes. We raided the garage, basement, recycling bin, etc. Once we had a decent collection it was time to start designing the dinosaur. Bug spent some time just stacking and sorting until he decided to make a T-Rex (not surprising).
I helped him assemble the boxes. He did the glue and I taped the pieces in place to help hold them until the glue set. At this point his Boxasaurus project serendipitously tied in with this week’s Unplugged Challenge theme Balance. The T-Rex was very front heavy and had to lean against the wall until we got the tail in place. What a great lesson in balance and a perfect hands on lesson as to one of the reasons why many animals have tails! He wanted a longer tail on his Boxasuarus but that in turn made him back heavy. In the end we found the perfect balance of tail length to support the head and arms.
Next came the whole family production (and I do mean PRODUCTION) of painting the Boxasaurus. Since painting outside was out of the question (neg 10 not factoring wind chill), we cleared the furniture from the kitchen, set down some plastic bags (lol) and set up shop to paint. Good fun was had by all. AND Thank goodness it was a weekend and Daddy was home to carry the kids directly up to the tub while I cleaned up. The floor was a showcase that would have done Pollock proud. Fortunately Bamaboo cleans up so well!
Once dry, eyes, teeth and glitter (hehe, a well dressed Boxasaurus) were added.
Even though it has been on the back burner in my mind, Bug has not lost any interest in his Inside the Body project. I thought I would share some recent images on the topic.
We went to a Kid’s Hands On Science Museum with some homeschooling friends right before Thanksgiving. My kids were thrilled with the human anatomy exhibits. They really liked the floor model heart where you could walk through the valves.
Bug is frequently found curled up with his favorite anatomy book. Hmm… is there something funny about him being curled up in his Blankie and asking about DNA?
After spending quite a bit of time looking at skeletons Bug wanted to make his own with play dough. I made him up a batch of white salt dough and he ended up focusing just on the skull.
We will be starting up our next term after the holidays… Jan 5. In Term Two we will be focusing on the animals in the winter, their survival skills (migration, adaptation, hibernation), plus reading about some of the winter holidays. Nature study will continue to be a big part of what we do… although it may be a bit more at the kitchen table watching birds at the feeder. I also want to spend some time introducing poetry… beyond the nursery rhymes.
We will be loosely following a Weekly Schedule (Preschool and Kindergarten)… with my general outline being:
Every Day: Pledge, Calendar, Days of the Week, Weather, Poem of the Month, Circle Time (songs & finger plays), Bible Story, Free Art Time (play dough, water colors or colored pencils – their choice).
M: Read Story of the Week, Introduce an Art History Image, Introduce the Letter of the Week
Tu: Read Story of the Week, Handwriting, Craft/Directed Art
W: Read Expansion Book, Read Flower Fairy Alphabet Story and color Alphabet Book Page
Th: Read Story of the Week, Handwriting, Do an Illustration and a Narration in Our Story Journal about the Story of the Week
F: Baking Time, Nature Study/Science Theme/Field Trip, Finish Craft if Needed
Daily (Kindergarten only)
Phonics & Math (We are using Spell to Write and Read and Right Start Math)
Art History: You can choose an individual artist to study for a term (like recommended by Charlotte Mason) or use the Come Look With Me series of books to focus on a theme instead. We will be using Come Look With Me for now starting with World of Play.
Bedtime Reading: We are going to tryMy Side of the Mountain. I think my adventurous little guy will enjoy it. Farmer Boy was a big hit. We tend to mix up a couple chapters in a ‘big’ book one night with the kids’ pick of picture books the next.
Term Two Book List
Baking Activity: Russian Tea Cakes (Snowballs)
Baking Activity: Babies in a Blanket
Baking Activity: Bear Claw Cookies
Baking Activity: Sunflower Carrot Muffins
Craft Activity: Clay Birds
Baking Activity: Bread
Baking Activity: Sugar Cookie Hearts
Week Seven:
Baking Activity: Hot Chocolate
Week Eight:
Baking Activity: ?
Week Nine:
Baking Activity: ?
Week Ten:
Baking Activity: Maple Candy
Week Eleven:
Baking Activity: ?
Week Twelve:
Baking Activity: Pancakes and Maple Syrup
Ok, this probably seems like a really weird time of year to be investing in and thinking about curriculum stuff but here I am with stacks of new materials around me. I am enjoying being able to read and sort through all the new stuff without feeling hurried to get going with it (well, we have started the Cursive First already). What do I have you ask? Right Start Math Level B (Bug finished A about a month ago), Spell to Write and Read, along with Cursive First (Bug recently finished all the phonics lessons on ReadingA-Z.com), History Odyssey Ancients and Middle Ages and Catholic Mosaic.
So far I am really pleased with all of our new investments. Everything is very hands on. Both the History Odyssey and Catholic Mosaic are based around Living Books with corresponding activity ideas. Spell to Write and Read seems so sound that I am hoping that my own abysmal spelling skills will improve with the program. And of course, I absolutely love Right Start Math! I can’t say enough good thing about that program. I can’t imagine us looking elsewhere for Math until we complete the series. To begin with, we briefly tried Singapore math and hands down prefer RSM. As for science… I am planning to use the Young Scientist Club lab kits as our base, adding in Living Books and continuing our Nature Studies. I also want the kids to have some time to pursue their own projects.
I will give more thorough reviews after I’ve had a bit more time with the products but if anyone has any questions about them please feel free to leave a comment. I would be happy to chat curriculum.
Here is a fun little craft I tried with the kids this week… God’s Eye Ornaments. Bug got the hang of it but I ended up making the girls’ with them just picking out the colors they wanted. Fairy gave it an earnest try but it was just a bit too tricky for her yet… so I would classify this as a kindergarten and up sorta project.
All you need are two sticks and scraps of yarn. For the kids’ ornaments I glued the popsicle sticks together in a cross shape before we started. For my own, using twigs from the backyard, I just held the sticks in place while I started wrapping. After a couple rounds the sticks become fairy secure. BTW – I would recommend using narrower popsicle sticks than we used… it was just what I had on hand.
I took a few photos trying to illustrate how to wrap the yarn. I hope it makes sense. This is one of those things that I never really remember how to do it until I sit down and just start playing with it. After a couple clumsy attempts it came back to me.
When I switch colors, I hold the loose ends of the yarn down along one of the sticks and wrap over it as if the tail is part of the stick. That seems to work well for hiding the ends and holding everything in place.
We started this nature study in a most unusual way… on the sofa watching tv. We watched the Magic School Bus episode “Wet All Over” about the Water Cycle (on The Magic School Bus: Catches a Wave DVD). We then read Oh Say Can You Say What’s the Weather Today?: All About Weather before digging for mittens and heading outside.
Have I mentioned it is cold here? This was our first sunny afternoon in several days and the kids were quite happy to get out to play in what was left of yesterday’s snow. We took a few minutes to look at the clouds but they were really much more interested in what was going on beneath their feet.
Bug pretty much has the water cycle down. After I asked him a few questions about the state of water around us I left him to his own devices. He was really interested in watching his breath and collecting icicles.
Unknown to me, Bug brought several icicles in the house when we decided it was time to warm up. He wanted to see what would happen. Sure… but can we not have them just sitting on the sofa please? 😉 I got him a little jar to place the icicles in for his experiment.
I did have to tell him later that it probably isn’t a good idea to drink water from melted icicles found hanging off of who knows what outside and out of a jar we use for painting no less. LOL. Boys!
LOL – I totally forgot to post this week’s lesson plans. I think this really shows how much I’ve moved into holiday mode. My evenings have been spent crafting away to get holiday presents and decorations completed in time. Not to mention the fact that we are taking the whole month of December off from preplanned activities. I think my mind has moved on from this term and I might have started my break a week early. 😉
Week Twelve (Nov 17-22)
The Story of the Pilgrims
Sarah Morton’s Day
Samuel Eaton’s Day
L is for Lily-of-the-Valley
We will be coloring the Lily page from our Flower Fairies Alphabet Coloring Book and reading the accompanying story in the Flower Fairies Alphabet Book.
We are still working on stuff for our Thanksgiving table.
Sorry I don’t have anything to share this week. I’m hosting Thanksgiving for 22 people next week and we will be doing so much cooking and baking I will probably take this week off of any planned kitchen activities.
Over the River and Through the Woods (or A Boy’s Thanksgiving Day)
Over the river, and through the wood,
To Grandmother’s house we go;
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh
through the white and drifted snow.
Over the river, and through the wood –
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes and bites the nose
As over the ground we go.
Over the river, and through the wood,
To have a first-rate play.
Hear the bells ring, “Ting-a-ling-ding”,
Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!
Over the river, and through the wood
Trot fast, my dapple-gray!
Spring over the ground like a hunting-hound,
For this is Thanksgiving Day.
Over the river, and through the wood –
And straight through the barnyard gate,
We seem to go extremely slow,
It is so hard to wait!
Over the river, and through the wood –
Now Grandmother’s cap I spy!
Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!
by Lydia Maria Child
Kindergarten/Preschool Term One Overview: Harvest Time
Well, we have officially had our first snow of the season! Just some flurries, nothing sticking but we have indeed reached the coats and mittens time of the year. There are very few leaves left on the trees. It makes it hard to believe I took the picture seen above only a week ago.
Week Eleven (Nov 10-15)
In November
Caps, Hats, Sock and Mittens
K is for Kingcup
We will be coloring the Kingcup page from our Flower Fairies Alphabet Coloring Book and reading the accompanying story in the Flower Fairies Alphabet Book.
I haven’t totally decided exactly what we are doing but we will be making some sort of centerpieces orpPlace settings for our Thanksgiving Table.
Sculptured Pretzels
INGREDIENTS
1 package yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 t. salt
1 T. sugar
4 cups flour
1 egg, beaten
Kosher salt, optional.
DIRECTIONS
1. Put warm water in bowl, sprinkle with yeast, and stir until soft. Let set for 5 minutes.
2. Add dry ingredients.
3. Mix dough with hands until well blended. Dough should be smooth and elastic, not sticky.
4. Roll dough and twist into any shape such as alphabet, animals, etc.
5. Place on greased cookie sheet.
6. Let rise until double in size.
7. Brush each sculpture with the beaten egg and sprinkle with salt.
8. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes at 350 until sculptures are firm and golden brown.
Over the River and Through the Woods (or A Boy’s Thanksgiving Day)
Over the river, and through the wood,
To Grandmother’s house we go;
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh
through the white and drifted snow.
Over the river, and through the wood –
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes and bites the nose
As over the ground we go.
Over the river, and through the wood,
To have a first-rate play.
Hear the bells ring, “Ting-a-ling-ding”,
Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!
Over the river, and through the wood
Trot fast, my dapple-gray!
Spring over the ground like a hunting-hound,
For this is Thanksgiving Day.
Over the river, and through the wood –
And straight through the barnyard gate,
We seem to go extremely slow,
It is so hard to wait!
Over the river, and through the wood –
Now Grandmother’s cap I spy!
Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!
by Lydia Maria Child
Kindergarten/Preschool Term One Overview: Harvest Time
Every month we are each making a quilt square that show cases something we have learned about recently. At the end of the year I will make a quilt out of all the squares. I had thought about using a different fabric technique every month but when it came down to the wire we did another set of Glue Batik squares since I already had all the supplies on hand. So I am now planning to make the entire quilt with Batik squares. This process is so much fun and we have had wonderful results. I think it will make for a fun quilt.
Here is a quick run down of the steps…
Draw your design with pencil on your fabric.
Trace the pencil drawing with Elmer’s Blue Gel Glue. Let the glue dry completely.
Paint over the entire piece of fabric with watered down acrylic paints (you can use the paint without watering it down if you want brighter colors). Let the paint dry completely. Wash off the glue in warm water.
This week we used a broad interpretation of the Unplugged Challenge theme FLAG… and went more Stars and Stripes as inspiration for these Star Ornaments. We had so much fun that even Gammy joined in and made her own. You can visit WeeFolkArt.com for her pattern.
Kids’ – Mom’s – Gammy’s
Kids’ Stars
For the kids’ version, I made up a quick star template with rounded corners (here is my pdf). Or large cookie cutters work well for making ornament templates. I cut out two piece of felt at the same time to make sure they completely matched. Then the kids went to town decorating the right sides with glitter glue and sequins.
Once dry, I blanket stitched the edges wrong sides together, leaving about a 1″ hole to stuff. The kids stuffed their own stars (I helped get it in the points) and then I finished the blanket stitch and added a loop of embroidery floss for hanging.
Mom’s Stars
For my version, I used the same template to cut out stars from red and white ticking fabric… using an extra 1/2″ seam allowance. I placed the pieces right sides together and pinned.
I cut out about a 7″ piece of grosgrain ribbon and folded it in half. I slid the loop side down in between the right sides of fabric and pinned it so that about 1/2″ of ribbon stuck out the end of one star point. I machine stitched around the whole star leaving a 1″ hole to stuff (I back stitched once over the ribbon). I made a snip from the edge of the fabric to the seam in the concave points of the star (so it would lay smooth when flipped). I flipped the star right side out and pushed out the points all the way.
Then the kids and I stuffed the star. Once stuffed, I hand stitched the opening closed.