A little debate...

...is always healthy. We went to a homeschool activity where we played some games and had a little debate session. The debate on Xbox verses Wii was pretty heated.

May 2010 Wagons Ho- Ian

Ian participated in Wagon Ho this year. It is a great program designed for 3-4th graders in Idaho.
Held in Veteran’s Park, the Wagon Master, Cal Clevenger, and his wife Marla, provide an authentic round of experiences from the old west designed to entertain and teach the children.

• Pump water into a bucket, then haul it across the back forty to wash clothes in a wash tub with lye soap and a
• Try to catch a spark with a flint and a rope coated in “bear grease”
• Use an eight foot crosscut saw and a bow saw to cut logs for our fire
• Shake fresh cream until it becomes butter
• Cut the carrots and potatoes with sharp knives to make our campfire stew
• Lasso a calf
• Use a hot branding iron to brand our property
• Stamp a leather “Concho”
• Wash dishes in pots of water heated over the campfire
• Sit in an old-fashioned school desk with an inkwell and write a journal entry

View the entire photo album here:

May 2010 Wagons Ho Ian

Cute Condor Couple Moves In

One of the perks of living in Idaho is the amazing bird watching opportunities and the fact that we are the home to a large population of birds of prey. If you have never seen a hawk soar and scream or seen a peregrine falcon perched along the road, you are truly missing out. Idaho is home to the World Center for Birds of Prey (it is on the south end of Cole Rd in Boise and well worth the drive).

This past weekend they hosted a Grand opening for the new Condor Habitat. I am a Condor fan, I think they get a bad rap because of their humble looks. They are very interesting birds. They are extremely helpful in eliminating waste from carrion ( think about how you love to see road kill on the side of the road..eww.Thanks for taking care of it Condors). The are also huge! They have the largest wingspan of any bird of prey-at 9 feet. They are larger that the bald eagle and way smarter! The most important fact is they are a endangered species so the work at the Center is very important.

The two birds now housed at the center will be used to bred new Condors to release into the wild. It is all very exciting!

If you'd like to learn more about Condors or other birds of prey check out the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, ID. Admission is only $7 General and $5 for kids. It is a great family outing or homeschool fieldtrip. They also have some great educational programs you can schedule for school, homeschool, or scout trips.

Also check out the educational resources provided on their website.

Below is our FAVORITE Condor book, the illustrations are incredible.

Owl Moon

 

I am using Evan Moors Literature Pockets Caldecott Winners, Grades 1-3 

with Ian (3rd) and Kaleb (1st).

Here are some of our projects from Owl Moon by Jane Yolen.

Ian loved this book. It has beautiful illustrations and the story is very poetic and descriptive.

 To extend the book a bit we did look up some owl photos and sounds on the internet, but did not take it any further than that. You could do a whole Owl unit branching out from this book. I try not to get carried away sometimes.

We focused on the story elements and the art of the illustrations. This book contains a great deal of simile, which we had a discussion on. My favorite was "...and the snow below it was whiter than the milk in a cereal bowl." The illustrations are amazing, you feel like you  are there in the cold woods with them. My favorite illustration was when the Dad shines the flashlight on the owl they have found.  

 This is the picture Oliver (4) painted while sitting by us. 

These are Kaleb and Ian's Owl Moon style illustrations.

 

These are their owl drawings. 

Did someone say fieldtrip?

I just love a good fieldtrip. Don't you?

I sometimes wish we never had to learn math and reading and writing and instead all we needed to do all day was go to really neat places and have loads of fun. I could get used to that.

SIGH.

Today the two oldest boys and I went on a great field-trip organized and hosted by the homeschool charter school we are part of-IDEA.  It was incredible!

First we visited the Boise Art Museum and got a great art lesson about quilts. We learned about several elements of design, including contrasting color, symmetry, pattern, and texture. We were able to study some beautiful antique American quilts. Quilting is truly an amazing art form.

Then the kids got to make their own quilts, using sticky board and fabric scraps.We were short on time for that activity. I thought the kids did great whipping up quilts so quickly. It was surprising to see after all the talk on symmetry and pattern that a majority of the kids preferred to make crazy quilts.

Crazy Quilts are pretty fun to look at!

Here are Josef and Ian's quilts.

After the Boise Art Museum we headed over to the Idaho State Historical Museum. There we got a very entertaining talk on the story artifacts tell us about history and human progress. The kids participated in an activity were they had to try to identify the use of unknown artifacts. This was fun! Some of the interesting ones were

an atalatal, 

old pot scrubber, 

an ox lead,

(which went in their nose and looked like a clamp with a leather strap attached-OUCH!)

a laundry scrubber ,

and some pressed tea bricks. 

 

Overall, it was a day well spent learning new things.

The bonus was we received free tickets to come back the Art Museum as a family. Maybe when Levi is back in town we will go again. They are setting up a new exhibit-Robots: Evolution of a Cultural Icon. Who doesn't LOVE robots?!

Time4Learning: A Review

We were able to try out Time4Learning in the month of December. This was an incredible opportunity during the holiday season, with all the activities, parties and family events in the month of December. Time4Learning became my partner for educating my kids. While I fluttered about decorating, baking, and wrapping gifts I simply sent my children to the computer each day to grab some much needed learning time, between cookie eating and holiday TV programs. I had them log in each day and do a minimum of one lesson from each subject. The subjects are Language Art Extensions (which are high interest stories that support skills), Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies.

I have four children, so I was able to try out a broad range of Time4Learning levels. We used PreK, 1st grade, 3rd grade and 6th grade.

Oliver (PreK)simply loved it! He gets a little left out sometimes as we work on homeschooling. This was great for him because I would log him in for him to do 'his school'. I'd let him pick a themed box to work on (choice is huge for his age level). He loved to show me how many boxes he had done that session. It gave him a great sense of accomplishment, the ability to make choices, and have fun. I loved that he was learning too!

Kaleb(1st grade) likes the Playground portion of Time4Learning the best. After he does his lessons for the day I let him play there for a while. It is a great reward and motivation for him.He also enjoyed seeing how far he moved along in the program by the visual check marks placed over lessons completed. The lessons were fun and entertaining for his grade level.

Ian (3rd grade) says he really didn't like Time4Learning, because you have to read a little and then answer questions and he felt like he hadn't learned enough to answer the questions. This is why I feel Time4Learning is a great supplement, but wouldn't be adequate as your only source for curriculum and instruction. He enjoyed the playground part of Time4Learning too, with all it's games.

Josef (6th) thinks it was pretty fun. This is a pretty good review since it takes a great deal to impress him these days. The lessons are very visual, exciting, and interactive.  Time4Learning helped him review concepts we had been over in previous grades and was maybe a bit rusty at. While other high interest topics like Rome and Electricity and Magnetism kept him learning new things.

We give Time4Learning five stars for being a great homeschool supplement!!

The Homeschool Life: Picture Narrations for PreK

Click photos to enlarge and see captions. 

I am reading the Tales of Beatrix Potter aloud to Oliver (age 4). He seems to enjoy the little stories and the animals in clothes. I had him do some picture narrations today. I had him first pencil draw what he wanted, then paint it with water colors. I outlined his original pencil drawing in pen to bring it out. They turned out well.

An Organized Homeschool: File Boxes

I love these storage boxes from Sterilite. The largest one can be used with hanging file folders. The other sizes are handy to for organizing manipulative's and supplies. A bonus is that they are stack-able. They are pretty affordable too, usually about $5 for the large size, a few places have had them for $8 which is still a pretty good deal for their versatility. The largest one measures 14 1/4"L x 9 1/2"W x 12 1/4"H
You could storage up to a 1 1/2 inch binder in them and still get the lid closed.

This is how I use them:

Sorry the labels aren't all pretty and crafty...we are all about not giving into perfection here.

I store them on an old rolling utility cart.

I find it very helpful and the boys like not having to look all over the house for their school work.

Got any other great products you use to keep you homeschool or office organized?

It's Ok To Write Badly

Image from Darton College website

Josef age 11 has been struggling with his writing assignments for homeschool. This has been hard on me as writing has always just poured out of me. Talking to him I discovered he was mostly just afraid.

" I don't know what to write!" he'd exclaim. "I'm not doing it right!"

"Write anything, it doesn't have to be good or bad, just put that pencil on your page and write." I'd demand.

Soon we reached an understanding when he started a writing journal similar to my hundreds laying about the house that I pick up and jot down ideas into. I gave him fun prompt and said, "Just write!"

For his Journal I don't grade it. I do not look at it for punctuation, spelling, or good grammar. It's just a tool to get the ideas down, to get him writing his thoughts on paper.

He has written some amazing stories or beginnings of stories, one he ever broke up into chapters. Humorous and funny tales sprouted from his imagination. The vocabulary usage impressive!

It is surprising how freeing it can be to allow yourself to 'JUST WRITE'. Often my own best ideas come from the process of just writing for the sake of writing. It's like thinking aloud on paper or perhaps just listening to your self without judgment.

It's all very scientific....

The school year is well underway and the boys have begun working on their chapter science experiments here are a few we've done so far.

Kaleb and his mealworms (yuck). He was observing traits of living and non living things.

Josef and his Jello and fruit plant and animal cells. The animal cell (top) did not turn out well as his little brothers kept poking the bag while it was setting up in the fridge. Science is hard with Little brothers around. It was supposed to be sort of rounded and oblong...hmmm.

The plant cell turned out well though!

Fire Safety Field Trip

The Charter school we are a part of IDEA arranged a fire safety fieldtrip for the elementary aged children at the Meridian Fire Safety Center. Kaleb, Ian and I went on the field trip. They learned about various fire safety skills. They participated in a reenactment of a fire escape, that included feeling for a hot door, crawling low below the smoke and escaping from a bedroom filled with real (special effect) smoke. They even got to call 911 and speak to an operator. Then the big engine rolled up and they got a grand tour.