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!

PROJECT DAYS

I really am excited to try Amy Pak's "History of the Holiday" Activity Pak from HomeschoolintheWoods.com

There's pretty much one main American holiday per month. So in honor of each holiday, we'll take that day off from school and do a special project relating to the holiday (ssssssh, we're still learning!)

Next year, I'd like to use Heart of Wisdom's "Guide to Biblical Holidays" and study the Jewish festivals and feasts. I understand this book is an exceptional resource.

For Month of JANUARY

FOR JANUARY:
For Dessert & Devotions: Wisdom & The Millers (they always beg for two chapters!)
For Project Day: MLK Monday the 17th History of the Holiday reading page and activity, day off
For Lunch: practice Awana verses, mom reads
For School: Math U See sheet, writing page, 20 minute reading

What's New for January:
Daily Chores
Monday: bring down dirty clothes, sort into hampers
Tuesday: collect upstairs garbage
Wednesday: no chore
Thursday: no chore
Friday: strip bed, put sheets in washer, start washer

What's the Same:
Daily: empty dishwasher (Sarah silverware, Daniel the rest)
Our Daily Routine revolves around meals, that gives me structure:
Breakfast: when we get up
Lunch: somewhere between 12:30-2pm
Dinner: 5:30ish
Dessert & Devotions: 8pm
In Bed: 9pm
Read in Bed
Lights Out: 10pm

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