Winter Sunshine!

It was a beautiful sunny day and a chilly 40 degrees with wind. Sarah wanted to go to the park of course. I put on my running shoes and enjoyed a calorie burning walk around the park while she rode and rode and rode. Dan stayed home with dad.

As we drove away from the house I realized the camera was still at home. I would have loved to get a photo of the purple crocus! The park is outstanding for a nature study, so I'm going to enroll myself in self-education by doing a weekly nature study. Maybe after awhile, the kids will want to join in.

I've been reading about hierarchical vs egalitarian views of women and the Bible. I'm finding as I look at the Bible through God's lens of love, I see the beauty of His egalitarian ways. How freeing!!!

February has been awesome as we have established (finally) a "fluid routine"...we do the same things each day but not necessarily in the same order!

I ditched the wall timeline (for now) because it doesn't relate to our real lives. I added a terrific history book  "The Story of the Ancient World" by H.A. Guerber from Nothing New Press which is an age appropirate narrative. We're almost done with "Life in the Great Ice Age", which Daniel has LOVED. I wish there were more like this.

First Park Day of Winter!

Though the sun was shining, the weather was still (too) cold.

Went to the Big Castle Park until I couldn't take the chill any longer.

I like to take photos of our park days, it helps me remember what we do and I love the way the I can see the kids change!

Dan and LEGO

Daniel found something excellent to do despite that told me he was bored this afternoon.

Love Listens: Daniel

Today I noticed this about Daniel:

• really likes his bookshelf and organizing the books by topics
• master negotiator, truth seeker, justice finder
• likes my new cornbread recipe
• does not like caesar salad nor new spaghetti & meatballs recipe
• enjoys fiddling with word art on the computer
• wants some lego toy story army men
• writing scenarios about everyone's parents dying and what he would do being alone
• LOVES his new Woody that he purchased for himself by saving money and doing chores, Daniel is a hard worker when he wants to be
• Daniel makes goals when he is inspired by something and is motivated to achieve them

Love Listens: Sarah

Today I noticed this about Sarah:

• listens to the Holy Spirit speak to her conscience and obeys when convicted by telling the truth when she is trying to deceive me
• sing-songs her way through daily activities
• loves to show Mr WindowWasher her toys while he's washing the windows!
• LOVES Garfield comics!
• wants to correct Daniel when he is disobedient, she has a deep desire to please me (precious!) 

Have You Walked in MY Shoes?

We are using Amy Pak's Holidays Activity Pak to celebrate one American holiday each month. We are "taking that day off from school" and calling it a PROJECT DAY.

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr day and we have a little bit of reading then we'll do our timeline project.

Tonight we played "Walk in My Shoes" game. Everyone puts a pair of shoes in a bag and each person gets to choose a bag. Then the person has to walk in whatever shoes they get! It was hilarious because dad picked Sarah's on the first round! We discussed (briefly) what it meant to walk in someone else's shoes. Fun activity!

SNOW!

We drove home from our Tuesday parenting group in the SNOW! Sarah decided to make a snowman in the backyard.

Color Mixing

Sarah wanted to know if red (ketchup) and yellow (mustard) make orange. Somehow this turned out to be a crazy concoction rather than a color experiment because she added peanut butter and jelly, too! MORE LEARNING!

Dan and Duct Tape

 

I've run an online business for the past 5 years and we've decided to close up shop.  One of the reasons is to gain back the use of our family room...for FAMILY! We brought in two countertops from the garage so each child will have a place for projects...they can leave their stuff out for days undisturbed.

After we set these up the kids went crazy with the duct tape and named this area "their camp". Daniel has decided he LOVES the black electrical tape! How creative!

Slime! Silly Putty! Hours of Fun!

Today we did breakfast, folded a load of towels together, math, 20 minute reading, daily chore (collect upstairs garbage), science (Outdoor Secrets lesson) and played with slime/silly putty! As a bonus, I found The Ultimate Children's Classical Collection on iTunes and I've set it to play the previews of all 50 songs so I didn't have to buy it (which I probably will in the future!)

So here we are, all in the sunroom, spread out on the floor while I'm actually getting to blog during the day! Fabulous!

Slime Silly Putty Recipe

Buy a large jug of Elmer's glue at Staples (about $20)
Box of borax
food coloring
water
two mixing containers
wooden spoon
1/4C measuring cup
Container #1 for glue mixture:
1 - four cup Pyrex measuring cup or similar size bowl
1/4C measuring cup
wooden spoon

Container #2 borax mixture:
1 - four cup Pyrex measuring cup or similar size bowl
1/4C measuring cup
wooden spoon

In Container #1:
Mix 1/4C water and 1/4C Elmer's glue with one drop of food coloring, stir well

In Container #2:
Mix 1/4C borax with 1C water, stir the borax solution so the borax is suspended and pour some of this solution into a 1/4C measuring cup and

QUICKLY (so the borax doesn't settle to the bottom)

pour into the glue mixture

You'll need to be stirring the glue mixture while the borax solution is poured in

Stir well for 1 minute or less, then reach in and knead and squish it all together above the container allowing the water to drip off

When it is not so wet, give to your kids on a dinner plate!

New School in 2011

We have recently adopted a Lifestyle of Learning approach to homeschooling, so counting days seems silly. EVERYDAY is a learning day!

We took a few days off in December and I'm glad to be fully-focused on this year anew.

I've decided to just look at one month at a time and try to get a general routine down so I'm just looking at a schedule for this month, January. I've put up a calendar of the month with the days of "school" so the kids know which days are school days because we have certain "rules" for school days (like no or limited screen time). I should do this the first day of each month (and plan for the holiday project).

I'm also focusing on the main American holiday each month. This month is Martin Luther King Jr Day on Jan 17th. So that day will be a PROJECT day and we'll do some MLK activities and reading.  I purchased another one of Amy Pak's OUTSTANDING Activity Packs-this one on holidays.

Get it here:
http://homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/HistoryofHolidays.htm