Shelters

With thanksgiving coming we decided to take the month of November and do some research on famous American Indians and the type of shelters they would of lived in.  The kids had a great time learning about the shelters last week and today they build their assigned shelters, gave a speech and answered questions that their siblings, dad and I had for them.  The rest of this week we will be reading a variety of stories, both fiction and fact about different Indians and then next week they will be doing reports on their chosen famous Indian from history.

Eli's longhouse.

Kris' wickiup.

Jaron's pueblo.

Sara's plank house and totem poles.

What I find fun about these projects is listening to the kids talk about the types of Indian tribes that would have lived in these types of shelters.  We will also be creating a teepee next week to add to the shelters.  Kris, who is autistic, has the ability to remember every thing he reads and sees.  Specially if it is a topic that he loves.  I really wasn't sure how he would do with this but when he gave his speech it was as if he was reading the book back to us.  Now if he could just master multiplication and division the same way!

Fun Stuff

One of the things my kids miss from public school is the holiday parties.  I promised them we would have the parties too, so I made special cupcakes for tomorrow.

Wolverine, Emma Frost, Light Knight, and Thor

  In general we do not celebrate Halloween by going trick or treating.  We do however go to our church's fall party.  The church we attend calls our fall festival, "Kingdom Karnival."  I can't wait to take pictures of the kids with their friends having fun!  So what is October with out candy corn, cupcakes and candy?  Not October according to my kids.  lol!  This past Sunday we attended another church's fall festival they called, "Heroes Unmasked." At this festival the kids could dress up.  So we had four heroes that created their own costumes.

Quiet Reading

What a difference it is this year with reading and my children.  Last year for public school they "had" to read 30 mins. every day after school on top of their home work they came home with.  All we would hear was, "NO! Please not reading too!"  It was so draining on both my husband and I.  Most nights we were happy if they just got their home work done in a reasonable time period without complaining and fighting.Many times we just never got to the reading part.  I believe children need time to play outside with their friends after a long day at school.  So on the nights they had a lot of home work we would let them spend time playing after getting it done.  We did try to read 3 days a week during the school week though.

 When we started home school this year we discussed with all of the kids what was expected of them and that included reading daily.  They grumbled at first but they have done great!  They earn points for reading comprehension questions from a site I found online called, Book Adventure.  Not all the books the kids chose to read are possible for tests but that's ok.  They are reading and that really is all that matters!
   Right now they are reading separate books on different Indians for history and they also have chapter book reading they must do.  Reading helps expand their knowledge as well as imagination and my kids are very creative.  On top of that we are reading together another book for reading called, "The Pilgrim Adventure" by Susan Kilbride. You can purchase it for Kindle here.  I was lucky to get it free during a free offer. Love free offers for books on Kindle!

Welcoming October and Fall

This is how we started the week:

October's Party (author unknown)

October gave a party
The leaves by hundreds came.
The chestnuts, oaks and maples,
And leaves of every name.

The sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand;
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind led the band.

The chestnuts came in yellow,
The oaks in crimson dressed;
The  lovely decked out Maples
In scarlet looked their best.

All balanced to their partners,
They lightly fluttered by;
The sight was like a rainbow,
New fallen from the sky.

There in the dusky hollow,
At hide and seek they played.
The party closed at sunset
And everybody stayed.

Professor Wind roared louder,
They flew across the ground;
And there the party ended
With hands all around.

I read this poem this morning before starting our new lessons in Science and Language Arts.  I love it!  The kids did too.  After our lessons we went on a nature scavenger hunt.  We set out to find a variety of leaves, seeds, flowers and other things.  The kids not only had fun doing the hunt but they were surprised at finding wooly worms and 3 inch long grasshoppers.  I am so glad we went out and had fun!  This week end this grading period and I am so happy at how they are doing.  They really are striving to reach high and go further. 
   Sara has taught herself multiplication.  YES SHE TAUGHT HERSELF!!!  I showed her one thing and she took off.  I am so PROUD of her!  Kris who was struggling with math last year is striving forward and is catching up to where he needs to be.  I dislike my kids being held back when they want to learn new things, that's what happen to Sara last year.  I also dislike my kids being pushed forward when they haven't mastered something, such as being pushed to learn division when they haven't mastered the concept of multiplication.  Something that happened to our Kris.  Just aggravates me to no end!
  I love my kids and I love home schooling!

Science Fun

My kids love science!  The last few weeks we have been studying vertebrates & invertebrates.  For each unit they have had to complete them with a project.   Here are their results:

African Bull Frog

Goliath Beetle

Whip Scorpion

Orca Whale

Arctic and Red Fox

Medusa Jellyfish

Zoo Fun

Today we surprised the kids and took them to the Louisville Zoo for a field trip.  They have been learning about vertebrates/invertebrates and habitats. What a better way to learn than to go see their favorite animals!  I am so tired so just going to post a few pictures.  The blog picture at the top is from today as well.

My goofs!

This is how you wear them out!

Chores

I AM SO LOVING CHORES!    No seriously I am loving what we have started here at home.  Generally we have a cleaning day which usually ends up being Saturdays, where we all help clean up the house of the little messes that have gathered through the house.  Generally I would run the vacume daily, sweep and do the kitchen duties daily with the larger projects of dusting, bathroom cleaning, mopping left for Sat. Well last week I decided no more of this MOM DOING EVERYTHING and getting frustrated, repeating myself and then getting to a point where I was yelling at the kids to do stuff.  So we have started a chore list.  It is rather simple:

Loading Dishes

Garbage Removal

Vacuuming

Unloading Dishes

Just four simple tasks and each child has been given that chore for the week.  This week they switch and this will continue from now on.  What a difference it has been for me.  Home schooling the kids, focusing on exercising and getting healthy, Mom stuff, wife stuff and just daily living has been wearing me down.  Having the kids help has been such a blessing.  Not just to me but to their dad as well.  Plus the kids are learning valuable tools...house keeping, time management,  and responsibility.  They are earning extra computer time and what they don't know is that if they can do their chore daily without complaints or  asking them repeatedly to do it we plan to reward them with a trip to the movies once a month. There is nothing wrong with them doing chores and it is teaching them so much.  This week has been so wonderful!  They have taken pride in doing their chosen chore!  I hope it continues this week and so forth!

Apple Art

We have been learning about John Chapman also known as Johnny Appleseed, the myths and the facts.  To add some fun today we had art class.  Painting arms, using fingers to make apples on our trees and painted with apples. The kids tried 5 different types of apples and used them to paint with.  Learning which they liked the best to eat as well as learning which were the best to make apple star prints. 

In a few weeks we will make a trip out to a local apple orchard.  Some where they have never been to, me either for that matter.  It should be lots of fun!

 As you can tell the kids had a ball making their paintings!  I enjoyed it too!

Field Trip

Home schooling is HARD WORK!  Yes it is most definitely work!  I get paid with laughter, smiles and occasionally the grumpy attitudes as well.  This past Friday we went with another home schooling family, my best friend Marty and her children to Big Bone Lick State Park. We got our directions from Google and let me tell you it is the first time I have been disappointed in their directions.  It took us a back road way which would have been fine if the miles had been accurate.  Needless to say 2 hour trip turned into longer because we had to back track to find a gas station to get accurate directions.  Anyway we got there and had a great time.  The park is is founded on a natural salt spring.  This salt spring thousands of years ago drew in mastadons, giant sloths, mammouths and giant bison.  Due to the marsh mud lands these animals would get stuck and die.  Leaving behind many fossils.  There is a great history about the area and I encourage you to visit!

Check out the pictures below...

My gang and Lucy in front of the mastadon head fossil.

The boys checking out some fossils.

Sara loved this beautiful mural.

We were suppose to be able to see bison at the park, all we found were the droppings.

Hiking.  We hiked 1.4 miles that day.

 

After the hike.  The kids were tired, hot, thirsty and enjoyed the cool stones they sat on.