God's Creation

Just a little taste of what we have been doing with the start of a new school year. :)

John Hancock

We read about the declaration of independence today and we made a quill pen and some ink from berries. The boys really enjoyed this activity. It's quite simple if you'd like to try it yourself, simply cut the end of a feather at an angle and cut a slit in the point. Squeeze berries to get juice out into a small dish and add a little salt and white vinegar and stir well. Enjoy!

Give me butter!

Even before we started eliminating more and more processed foods, one thing we never ate (well at least for several years now) is margarine. We use BUTTER! It may have more fat but it is real! One of our lessons this week after learning bout the pilgrims was to make our own butter! I used a recipe from Fresh Eggs Daily (great blog, you should check it out.) as well as her buttermilk biscuit recipe because of course, when you make butter you also get fresh and delicious buttermilk! The boys made their own portions by shaking the cream and a bit of salt in baby food jars, they had a blast and really enjoyed eating something they made all on their own. I of course used my kitchenaid :)

If you have never made your own butter I suggest you give it a whirl at least once, there is nothing like it! And I shamefully have never made buttermilk biscuits from scratch and must say it will be the only way I will make them from now on!

Fire Station - The ultimate boys' field trip!

So we met with a different homeschool group yesterday to attend a field trip at the fire station. First we met for a picnic and some playtime at the playground and then we proceeded to tour the fire station, complete with a round in the simulator trailer. My youngest wasn't entirely impressed but my 7 year old was absolutely loving it! The firefighters were very friendly and helpful, they talked to the kids about fire safety and when and when not to use 911; they showed them the different trucks and described the tools with them and answered questions. The children got a chance to hop onto the trucks and the ladder as well (when it was on the ground of course.) I was very pleased with the afternoon, my boys learned a lot and really enjoyed themselves. At the end each child received a goody back with stickers and information as well as the traditional plastic firefighter hat. Before we joined everyone for the field trip we made our weekly stop at the library where both boys picked out some books about firefighters and fire trucks, and when we got home my 7 year old suited up in his hat and the badge he was given and read the books they picked out. They really made an impression on him and that makes me smile!

Let's talk tablets (and e-readers)

We live in a very electronic age, smartphones and tablets are a part of daily life. My husband and I remember when we were in high school and we actually hung out with our friends; our teenager sits around and texts his friends and talks to them on facebook. And people wonder what is wrong with the world, we've all become way too dependent on technology and not enough on one another!

With that said, I'd like to talk to you about some of our favorite electronic vices. And I'd love to hear your opinions as well!

Kindle
This was our first purchase, I bought it for my husband before his last deployment. Much easier than lugging dozens of books around! We just have a basic model and we both enjoy reading on it, as does our oldest. I much prefer the anti-glare and "book-like" look of the original kindle, it is easy on the eyes. Some people cannot get used to an e-reader and much prefer to have that crisp book in their hands. As for myself I think I prefer an e-reader; it is less bulky and so easy to bookmark your spot. There are also SO many free kindle books available on amazon! This however, does not stop us from having an abundance of books in house however. Mostly children's books but my husband and I have a good collection as well. I do love the look of a bundle of books on the shelf! I have not tried a kindle fire or any of the other models, I had considered getting myself a kindle fire until my husband said I could get myself an ipad as a present. Bingo!


ipad
I absolutely love the apps in the app store so I was ecstatic to get my hands on one! We all use it as well, my husband uses it for web browsing as do I when I do not feel like sitting at the computer. I also use it for homeschool as there are endless educational apps out there. And I also have the kindle app installed on it, as well as a couple of children's book apps for my boys. I absolutely love FarFaria, it is a monthly subscription children's book app and there are SO many stories available. Your child can read the stories himself or have them read to him; which is what my youngest does while I am doing lessons with Gavin. I highly recommend getting your hands on an ipad, you can do so much on it (you can even blog from it, there is a blogger app!) ;)


I would love to hear about your favorite tablet/e-reader and some of your favorite apps!

School's Out!

Today was our last day of 1st grade! Over the next few weeks Gavin will be doing some test-prep for his C.A.T but that is all that is left, I cannot believe how fast this school year has gone by! I am so incredibly proud of both of us, it has gone super well! We had our lazy days and we made them up, we had a few distractions but worked through them, and now we get to look forward to all kinds of summer fun! I will be doing a summer bridge book with Gavin but nothing heavy, I just think his personality needs a little something to keep him on track and prepared for next fall. I am truly blessed to have the opportunity and right to homeschool my children; even though we have our days where they are completely wild and making Mommy a little crazy; I would not trade this for anything! I am shaping them, I am teaching them, and I am preparing them for the world! And after two years so far, I am pretty proud of what I have accomplished with him and so super proud of what he has accomplished. And even though my youngest is not quite of school age yet (he'll begin official preschool in the fall) he has learned so much as well; having a big brother with an extensive vocabulary has definitely been beneficial for him! So now I'd just like to thank my wonderful husband for being on board with this and supporting it and I'd like to thank God for giving me the gifts I need to perform this task. If you have ever considered homeschooling; I encourage you to at least give it a shot, you will not regret it!

Field Trip!

That's right, one of the many perks of homeschooling are the endless field trips! :) Spontaneous ones are the best, this afternoon I decided to load up the boys and head over to the zoo which we have a membership to. It is not a big fancy one and there aren't that many animals but the boys always truly enjoy it and anytime spent enjoying God's creations is a great time in my book! :) If you have a zoo in your town, do you have a membership? You should look into it, completely worth it! Here are just a few photos from our afternoon, most of the ones I took included my boys in them and I'm just not sure I'm ready to publish their photos on my blog.

Science Fun Day

Our homeschool co-op meets on Monday's, this week was a science extravaganza day! The kids had so much fun, we had so many children RSVP that we had to split the group in two.

They did baking soda painting:

Lava lamps:

And this is what happens when you put food coloring in milk and then dip a q-tip covered in dishsoap into it:
They did several other experiments but I have way too many photos to share them all. :)

I am proud of the girls that were in charge of organizing today, they did a great job and planned some really fun stuff. The kids got to enjoy the playground a little also. I hope you enjoyed your first look into one of our homeschool days!

Have a blessed week!

My Father's World

The curriculum we used for Gavin this past year was My Father's World first grade curriculum and I absolutely LOVE it! We had also purchased the preschool curriculum for Brent but will only begin to use it regularly this fall. The price is a little higher than some others out there but it is all ready for you; they send you all the books and materials you need plus a teacher's manual with the lesson plans written out for each day. It takes all the guesswork out of scheduling and planning, with our busy lives that makes this girl pretty happy! That makes one less thing to worry about and we absolutely loved the material covered. We didn't supplement very much aside from the subjects not included in the package (health, geography, foreign language.) Gavin absolutely loved reading his Bible stories every day and illustrating them in his Bible notebook. Along with the Bible stories are weekly Proverbs verses for them to memorize; Gavin can still recite most of them off the top of his head. There are even materials for music and art. The lessons are easy to follow and Gavin moved along quickly; I did eventually add some supplements for math because he does so well in this subject (he's even tested high enough to start with their level 2 of 2nd grade math) but there really is no need for extra textbooks or worksheets aside from that. I plan on ordering his second grade curriculum from them next month and will be adding the Rosetta Stone French program which comes with lesson plans from MFW when purchased through them. I cannot say enough good things about this company. They are very customer friendly and ship quickly. At this point my plan is to teach with their curriculum all the way through high school! I love that my son is getting all of his basics along with learning all about God. If you haven't checked them out yet, please do! There are also forums and several facebook groups to discuss the material and simply network with other parents who use their program.