Melissas Homeschool Blog

4H County Events 2012

2012-01-28T18:28:00.015-05:00

This is DJ and Caitlin's second 4H County Events. This is a competition and fun day. Last year we just basically watched and learned. DJ did do a photo last year, and won a blue ribbon. The ladybug picture shown was his entry this year, and he won first place again. Now it will go to District Events in May. I hope to be able to attend that this year.

Caitlin did the fashion show wearing a dress she helped sew. She also assisted her brother in his demonstration. Because she is a cloverbud she won a participation green ribbon. Next year she will no longer be a clover bud.

DJ also did a demonstration on the Florida dung beetle. This was his first time doing a demonstration, and people were still talking about it later. He is a very good speaker and once he got over the jitters he did very well. He won first place for that as well, and will be able to do the same demonstration at District Events. Because he is 11 he can't go to State level, but next year he will be able to. They were both so nervous I was afraid they would back out. But they did it, and did it well, and I am one proud momma today. I am also very tired. It is a very long day, that starts way too early. I am so glad I decided to get my kids involved in 4H.

Dennis Creek Hiking Trail

2012-01-26T17:22:00.018-05:00

We have been busy, busy, busy the last two days. Yesterday, was a playdate at the park. If you look down at the very last shot you will see how hot it got. I don't ever burn, mostly because I don't let myself burn, but you need to see the raccoon eyes on me. Last night you could the whole outline of my sunglasses.

Today was our volunteer day at the nature refuge. We haven't been since before Christmas and the photography class. Today it was just us, and one other family that volunteers with us. We were privelaged to be able to walk the Dennis Creek Trail, to look for garbage or damage. Gladly we didn't find a lot of garbage, which is nice because this trail is used quite frequently. This particular trail doesn't end up at the Suwanee River, like the others, it goes to the Gulf of Mexico. So after we hiked the trail and did our work, we headed down to the Gulf. It was low tide as you can probably tell from the pictures. We did see some small fish, crabs, and some birds along the trail. We found an area where there was an obvious wildfire at some point, that did not burn through the trees. Just the outside was burnt and new green could be seen growing from the tops. We will ask Ranger Pam about this the next time we see her. It might have been caused by lightning. There is a lovely little sitting dock on this trail, that I want to return to by myself to read or just enjoy the peace and quiet. I might take a friend, it is kind of remote, lol! After visiting the Gulf, there weren't any picnic tables, just fishing dock and boat ramp, we headed back to Chiefland for lunch at the park. I am tired now and have a ton of house work to catch up on. It appears we will finally get some much needed rain over night, but severe weather is possible because it has been so warm. I don't look forward to tornado warnings, and constant lightning. Tomorrow back to regular school, movie day, and grocery shopping.

We Have Vegetables!

2012-01-24T17:02:00.003-05:00

Well sort of, lol! I said about a week ago that we took the root of a bunch of celery, and the root of a head of lettuce and planted them in pots. To make the experiment more interesting we planted them in sand, with some regular yard dirt and then plant food. The first picture is not great but you can see it sprouting through the dirt. The second picture is much better. It is very warm here right now, so we haven't even had to bring them in at night. I have managed to keep my Poinsettia plant alive as well. I will plant it in the Spring, and was told it will grow into a bush eventually. I did not know that. This is a very good Science experiment that anyone can try at home. It didn't cost us anything because we already had everything we needed. I can't wait to see if we actually get some veggies that we can eat. Last Summer I did get a few tomatoes, but I have not perfected that yet, and forget cucumbers, I give up on them.

Just A Hum Drum Day

2012-01-23T12:33:00.001-05:00

Well it is Monday, again. The weather here in Florida is exceptionally warm for January. I am not complaining mind you, but it does make me nervous as to what the Spring and Summer will bring. There have already been Spring patterns for severe weather in the south, and I really am not happy about that. The pink flowers are already blooming, another sign that things are not normal.

I am off from work for the next three Saturdays. Though I love that, because I can get a lot done around the house, my pocketbook will be sweating it. We have two field trips coming up, in the next two months, albeit affordable ones, and my sister is coming for a visit sometime in there as well. I will have lots of extra time to paint as well. My house should be spotless by the end of the three weeks. Don't hold your breath, lol.

DJ is moving along well in the Spanish on FLVS, and is maintaining a B. I am very pleased with this, though I will not admit it is easy, because it isn't. I still have to average their grades for report cards, that should be completed soon.

I am continuing to cut calories, and exercise when I can, to lose weight and have all around better health. I have decided that at least twice a week, maybe three, I will replace baked beans with my meat source. Only I will be doing this, as no one else in my family has any interest in eating beans with me, lol! They have like 90% less fat than most meats, and tons of iron, calcium, fiber and protein. I hope I can stick with it. I am down to one Pepsi a day, and really don't see myself ever giving it up completely. Somedays I cheat and have two, but mostly when I work. DJ has finished reading Dolphin Tale, book report due today, and is starting Treasure Island.

Lesson Plans For 1/23/12:

DJ:
Reading: Treasure Island 2 chapters
Writing: Book report for, Dolphin Tale
Spanish: FLVS
Language Arts: Colons
Practice Speech for County Events

Caitlin:
Head of the Class: 3 cycles
Math: Addition, fractions, object math
Social Studies: Fire safety
Language Arts: Plural words, nouns
Science: Habitats

Make Your Own Valentines

2012-01-21T10:18:00.003-05:00

OK, I know someone is going to say I am weird, trust me I have heard it before. We have been invited to two Valentines Day parties. One for our homeschool group and one for our 4H group. For some strange reason our 4H group did it Monday. We did a cookie exchange instead of Valentines. This was something we voted on, because last year the kids just threw them out, didn't really read them, and seemed uncomfortable with the corny I love you, your cute, be mine and other sayings on them. You know how teens and preteens are with that stuff. So, now for the homeschool group, of course they want to do Valentines. I was the only weirdo that voted no. Figures I know. So, I have decided we will be making our own. No, this is not less expensive, by the time you figure in the ink to print them, and the candy we will use in the center, but we will add our own sayings like, glad we are friends, your so nice, etc. I was going to add short blessings, but I can not seem to find any short blessings, other than like God loves you, but that is not really what I wanted. We will also be making a candy bouquet for the party. This is my first time attempting this, and you still have to wait to see it, lol! So, if you are weird like me, and you want to make your own Valentines, here are two links that will give you some cute free printable ideas. After you print them you color them, or paint, and then either stick a lollipop into the center, or affix a heart shaped piece of wrapped candy. Link number one, link number two.

Tissue Paper Art

2012-01-19T08:06:00.002-05:00

Every two weeks we do painting class. Those of you who follow my blog know we are learning to paint the one stroke method. My mom wanted us to try Tissue Art? What is tissue art? It is toilet tissue that they get wet and set very tightly into molds and you get a lovely piece of tissue art. I thought we were going to learn how to make the pieces to paint, but since my mom was strapped for time, due to nasty weather, we just painted the ones we already had. No one seemed to be real impressed with them, so I am guessing we won't be doing them again. I have no idea what to do with them either, now that they are done, lol! I did the heart, each kid a pig, and my mom did the tiny ones. It was fun, but not very useful in my opinion. After that DJ practiced his Spanish lessons, and Caitlin painted a pink river dolphin. Our homeschool room, which is our dining room, is getting a new look so stay tuned for that.

As for today, we have a full day of lessons with all subjects involved. It is chilly and damp, so haven't decided yet if we will walk or not. The sun is shining though, and that is never a bad thing. Have an awesome day, everyone.

Some Cool Science Things To Try

2012-01-17T14:09:00.003-05:00

I read somewhere, and if I could remember I would give the credit, that if you put the end of the celery into dirt it will grow new celery. So, today we put the end of the celery and lettuce, you know the parts no one ever eats, and planted them in dirt with plant food. We will see if they actually do anything. Of course if it gets real cold we will have to place them in the garage.

DJ finished his National Zoo bear book today. This was a lengthy assignment and he is very proud of the results. If you don't wish to go to the National Zoo website, here is basically what he did. You will need an opening page with basic information about bears in general. You can pick any bears you want to cover, I think there were eight total on the curriculum. The child will need to look up pictures of each bear chosen, and draw a likeness of the bear. Then each bear needs a page of info for each bear. After all that, the last page is dedicated to how we can protect bears in the wild, and conserve for their future. DJ used his Polar Bear painting, that he did in Art class, as his cover. We stapled it together and it is a lovely reference type book he can use over and over again. He will get a very good grade on this. He worked hard and put in a lot of effort.

We also walked to the 4H extension office to turn in the County Events paperwork, and the photo he has chosen to enter this year. I will share the pic later. Caitlin has to turn in the dress she helped my mom make, next week, and the demonstration will go in the day of County Events. DJ is nervous about speaking in front of others, but he is a great orator and he will do fine. I will share that project once the board has been completely assembled.

On top of all that we did a full day of lessons. Whew I am tired now!

Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day

2012-01-16T09:11:00.003-05:00

Today is the day we honor the life of the great Civil Rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr. This is a federal holiday, here in the US, and public schools are closed, and more importantly my husband is home from work. Normally we would just take today off. However, I sent my husband to the firehouse to do paperwork, so we can do a half day of lessons. DJ's writing prompt for this week is about having a dream. We have watched several documentaries on Martin Luther King Jr, and his writing will be due Friday. For today DJ will be doing Spanish on FLVS, read 3 chapters of Dolphin Tale, and one math chapter. Caitlin will be doing 3 cycles of Head of the Class. Do you have today off?

Tissue Art, Spanish Class, Panoramic Pictures, and Purple Roses

2012-01-14T10:52:00.007-05:00

OK, for those of you who were wondering those are the tissue art, unpainted of course. My mom left these with me, and I just remembered to take a picture of them. The kids will be painting these ones Wednesday, and making more of the heart ones as well. They take a while to set and dry, so the second set won't get painted right away. We have decided on homemade Valentine's for our homeschool Valentine's party. I would just assume do none, but whatever. I will share how they will be done in another post. I am also going to be making a candy bouquet, which I will share at a later date as well. I got both of those ideas from Pinterest, with a little twist of my own.

Caitlin loves flowers almost as much as me. Every now and then Walmart will have a good deal and I will pick some up. I put the purple roses in the two vases that my mother and I painted just last week. I think they look pretty darn nice. I have been practicing my painting strokes, in my book, each night and am getting more comfortable. I have discovered that I paint better, at least in the book, with my left hand. I will have to see how it works out when I actually do it. I have never known myself to be ambidextrous, but maybe I am.

I had mentioned before that I bought a new camera, because we thought DJ broke the other. He didn't and he was given the old one. Now the poor thing really is dying, and needs to be retired. I have looked up to see if there is a fix, but it is ten years old, and that is a long time for a digital camera. So now him and I both need to learn how to use the new one, lol! He needs to take a panoramic shot for one of his assignments. So I went out this morning to mess with it. This camera takes very simple and easy panoramic shots. No tripod or fuss. The picture is shown below. It is just the side and front of the yard, but you get the idea. He will get one of the Gulf or something really cool.

FLVS Spanish class is proving to be very time consuming. Just when we thought we were getting the hand of it, the teacher informs us that you must turn in three tests per week. Really? That is almost insane when you are learning a language that is completely foreign to you. He has already done greetings, pronouns, adjectives, verbs and much more. I don't know how he is supposed to be able to retain this info going so fast. The teacher was very nice and helpful, so at least that is good.

Thursday we did half day of lessons, then had a playdate at the park. Friday was half day of lessons, then movie day. We watched a documentary on the Blue Whale that was really fascinating. We did manage to get all three tests in for Spanish by Friday, so we didn't have to do it over the weekend. Next week we start preparing for County Events.

Kielbasa, Onions and Peppers Over Pasta

2012-01-11T17:27:00.004-05:00

OK so I have had a very busy day today. I am trying a few new things for this blog. One I want to share more crafty ideas, ideas for experiments, and of course some favorite food recipes I love or would like to try. The kids had a full day of school, and all went as planned. I spent more time on Facebook, today, than I think I ever have, lol!

I got this idea to do Caitlin's hair in the shape of a heart from Pinterest. I didn't do it exactly as shown, but you get the idea. If you have Pinterest you can check my pins for the tutorial. It is very cute, I just need to tweak it a little. Since Caitlin does not like her hair fussed with, she was not a good model.

One of my favorite, and easy meals to make, is Kielbasa with onions, red peppers, served over angel hair pasta. Since I am trying to learn to take better pictures, I thought I would try food. If you read recipe blogs their pictures look good enough to eat themselves. So I was curious how to achieve this. I am still curious, lol. You can see the steam rising, and obviously it is cooking, but that is about it. To make simply cook the Kielbasa, with the other ingredients, in water or chicken broth. You don't need anything else, the Kielbasa adds all the flavor you need. I like to sprinkle in some brown sugar now and then. Serve it over cooked noodles, rice or potatoes. You could also cook it in butter but it adds lots of fat and calories. I cook them until the onions are golden brown and sweet.

Since it rained today, we really needed it, our playdate at the park is tomorrow. The kids will only have half lessons for the day. If anyone has any cute ideas to make snacks into heart shapes, please share. I found a couple, but would really like a few more ideas. Also if anyone knows where I can purchase kids Valentines that are not with all the corny sayings, I would love to know that too. We may just end up making our own.

Spanish Is Not So Much Fun

2012-01-10T19:24:00.003-05:00

LOL DJ is not enjoying the FLVS Spanish classes. I can't say that I blame him, navigating through it is difficult. Then we couldn't figure out how to make the accents over the vowels, for certain words. Thankfully the teacher, and help from our homeschool group, and we have figured out how to do it. I also found it is easier for him to print off the lesson each day, then trying to go back and forth through the screens to review and compare. It doesn't say you can not do this, and normally you would have a textbook, so for now it is working well for DJ. He still has a very good grade, just frustrated with the difficulties navigating.

Next week my mom is teaching us tissue art. It is done with toilet paper, no not reused or recycled, water, and cookie cutters. I tried to find a Youtube video to show you, but there weren't any. So you will have to wait and be curious just like me. She already made a few, for us to look at, and it is really amazing. We will be making more and then painting them. I have decided for my own personal painting that I am going to pick one picture and paint it over and over until I get it right. I am not sure my mom will agree with me, but that is how I learn, through repetition. After next weeks class, I have decided that the kids will have more basic art projects each week. The first one will be to create a scenic picture of their choice, using only three colors. Rather than concentrating on strokes they will concentrate on color concepts, blending, and making new colors. DJ is almost finished with his bear book, that he did through the National Zoo. This was a long project and he has worked hard on it. Next he will begin doing his Dung Beetle poster board, for his demonstration at 4H County Events. He picked this topic because we have lots of them, and Caitlin and him have been studying insects in their 4H project book. We even have one that was once alive, but found deceased in our yard. It will be for model purposes.

Lesson Plans for 01/10/12:

DJ:
Science: National Zoo bears book, physical and chemical properties
Spanish
Math: Saxon 65 chapter 58

Caitlin:
Head of the Class: 3 cycles
Spelling: Matching
Math: Greater than and less than, addition, subtraction, pictographs
Language Arts: Command sentences, words ending in ING
Science: The Water Cycle, wetlands

Can You Guess What This Picture Is?

2012-01-09T14:01:00.003-05:00

Can you guess what the picture is? I have gotten a lot of interesting responses the other place that it was posted.

Today was our first day back to lessons. It was a good day and we accomplished a lot. DJ took longer on his math than I would have liked, but it is all good. Lovely weather here in FL until Friday when it gets cold again for a few days.

Lesson Plans For 01/09/2012:

DJ:
Reading: Read the last chapter of current book with book report due Friday.
Math: Saxon 65 chapter 57
Writing: Persuasive Writing: blog post
Spanish: Reading assignment on FLVS
Photography: Candid Shots

Caitlin:
Head of the Class: 2 cycles
Months of the Year
Printing Practice
Math: Greater less and equal, time, subtraction, addition flash cards
Spelling: Matching
Language Arts: Exclamations, spelling words ending in ING

Volunteering and Pinterest

2012-01-07T18:30:00.015-05:00

Well we have finished out our last week of Christmas break, with a bang. Wednesday we painted, Thursday playdate at the park, Friday I felt like crap, and today we volunteered with our 4H group at Otter Springs.

This is not the same place we volunteer at with our homeschool friends. 4H is all about learning leadership and citizenship. So this year they decided to do a volunteer day. Since we have such a wide age range in our group, it wasn't easy finding someone to let us volunteer. Otter Springs was more than willing to let us help. I didn't take any pictures of the springs, well because we were busy and I forgot, lol! You can camp there as well, and they have a pool if you don't care for the springs. The first picture is a rather large sink hole, that was blocked off. If you don't know what a sink hole is, it is a part of the ground that just opens up into a hole. This one is very small in comparison to ones that people have fallen into and couldn't get out. It is so comforting to know you can wake up one day and your car our house could just be swallowed by a sink hole, not to mention your pets and children. The kids worked hard and had a good time. They filled the whole back of a truck with twigs, logs and sticks. One little boy, got himself in a mess, when he tried to pick up a rotten log that was infested with fire ants. The poor thing was covered in welts. He went home needless to say. We found a hollowed out tree stump, that the kids thought was a good time. I had to check it for curled up rattlesnakes, bees, and fire ants before they got in it. All in all a great day and the weather warmed up nice and even though there was a threat of rain, the sun didn't disappoint us. Back to school Monday.

Oh, I almost forgot! Pinterest is a new website I was introduced to. If any of you are members and want to be friends just let me know and we can get that done.

2012-01-07T18:30:00.001-05:00

More Painting

2012-01-04T18:11:00.007-05:00

Painting class again today, but we won't paint again for two weeks, unless I break out supplies to practice. My mom and I made candle holders and what I think are vases. My technique is improving but no where close to where I want it to be. You know what they say, practice makes perfect. The kids each painted musical wooden notes, made by my sister. She is seeing a guy who makes guitars and she is learning wood carving. Pretty neat.

Tick Tock by James Patterson

2012-01-03T11:15:00.003-05:00

I got an Ereader for Christmas, but I haven't actually used it yet. I did download the Scarlett Letter to it, because I have not read that book. I know for all you classical literature buffs, you are probably thinking, really? The link provided is for a Kindle, but the hard copy books are also available at Amazon. I did not get a Kindle. My husband chose a more affordable model, in case I do not like reading from the Ereader. It is a possibility. Since there are so many free books I have not read yet, but have wanted to, I will start with those first. Plus Swiss Family Robinson is one of the free choices, and I want DJ to read that. Tick Tock was lent to me from a friend. I finished it the other day, and have now started, The Confession, by John Grisham. Two of my most favorite authors in the world. Once I finish that, I can start the Ereader reading. I love Christmas break, I get free time to finish lots of reading. I also have been working on my painting strokes, counted cross stitch, grading papers and getting ready for report cards. Report cards is a process, lol!

The kids are working on their projects for County Events, and the fair, which are both rapidly approaching. DJ is doing Spanish and Caitlin Head of the Class, both over Christmas break. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. On a totally unrelated topic, it is freeezing here in FL right now. I do not recommend visiting, lol!

Number One Song Of 2011

2012-01-01T14:37:00.001-05:00

Last night on my way to work, the top songs of 2011 were playing on the radio. Adele, Rolling in the Deep, was the number one song for 2011. I love her voice, and I am so happy for her. Happy New Year!

New Years, Newspaper, Painting Class and More

2011-12-31T11:56:00.005-05:00

First, and most importantly, I would like to thank all my readers who make my blog a success. 2011 was an awesome year, and you all helped make it happen. Without readers my blog would be just a bunch of stuff I put on the internet. So Happy New Year to you all! May 2012 be full of blessings and good luck. Speaking of 2012, how many of you think the world is going to end on December 21, 2012? Because, I really don't want to spend all that money Christmas shopping for no reason!

We made the front page of the local newspaper, The Levy County Journal! All right, we live in a small town, so making the front page of the paper is not really hard. But, it was in all three local papers. I told you about the photography class we did with Ranger Pam. She took a picture on the last day of class and it was put in the paper. It must have been a slow Christmas news week, or we probably wouldn't have been on the cover. The kids were excited. I was excited they weren't in the paper for stealing or something, lol! Not all the kids were able to go the second day, and not all members went to the class at all. But, it is a pretty good sized group. Ranger Pam is having a classroom built at the Refuge and will be having more classes when it is done. We can't wait.

We also had a playdate this week, and painting class. The kids picked polar bears as the theme. So the kids drew out their pictures on paper. DJ painted his right on the paper. His is the only one that looks like a polar bear. If you look at the pics my mom's looks like a sheep, mine a white buffalo and Caitlin's a giant snowball. Her turtle looks nice though. Wait that isn't a turtle its a seal. A green seal, Caitlin? LOL!

I have to work tonight, and I am testing out a peanut butter pie on my co-workers. I have never made one, but my mom wants one for her birthday next week. It really was quite simple so I hope it tastes good.

I am once again way behind on my Entrecard drops. My apologies, I am trying to catch up. I still have to finish grading DJ's papers for second semester report cards.

Great Gifts For New Readers

2011-12-27T17:04:00.002-05:00

Caitlin got this, Jingle All the Way, interactive story book for Christmas. She asked my mother for it, and she got it for her. There is another book in the series for Jingle as well. There is also three other animals to choose from.

Why do I love this book? It comes with a cute dog, Jingle, and the book is interactive. Caitlin has already read through it twice, and even worked through the hard words she didn't know. This is a great motivational reading tool, especially for reluctant readers. It doesn't actually read the book to your child. The child has to read it, and certain phrases in the book cause the dog to react. It is really cute and fun.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T16:22:00.014-05:00

Well Christmas is over, and I am happy. Why? Because Christmas is very tiring. We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Every year is good, but this year seemed more relaxed. We did have a bit of sad news. My sister in laws father passed on Christmas Eve. It was kind of not unexpected though, not that it made it any easier to have to start planning a funeral on Christmas.

I spent more money this year, than normal. But for once, and I have been there almost seven years, my job gave me a bonus. This was way back in August and I saved it for gifts. Even my husband got a lot of gifts. We usually try to stick to the rule of three gifts for each child, that didn't happen this year, and I don't even feel guilty. The dogs even got a gift. Who am I kidding, like the kids would let me leave them out, lol! Biscuit is staring into the wrapping paper box, because she knows the outer wrapper to her bone is in there, and she thinks she wants it, lol. DJ got a karaoke machine, the Cadillac version thanks to my husband. Craig spent all Christmas day singing for us and the whole neighborhood. It was in the eighties and the windows were open. DJ and I sung a bit too, but Caitlin and Nonie would have no part.

Today we went shopping, because you have to spend all that money relatives gave you. Caitlin bought some Vet station thing. It is huge, and I really tried to talk her out of it. DJ got the other game he wanted, and Craig decided to save his. Now that is a stunner. I did get gifts too. I must have been extra good this year, because I got an Ereader which hasn't arrived yet, two jewelry semi mounts, gemstones from my mom, and DJ got me a Chia Cat. Woohoo! Oh and a lovely poinsettia from a dear friend of mine. I have never had one, so I hope I don't kill it. I did put it out on the porch, because my house just does not get enough sun inside, this is on purpose by the way.

Check out my jewelry blog if you want to see the semi mounts with gemstones in them. In another words the finished product.

Festival Of Lights At Stephen Foster State Park

2011-12-24T13:18:00.022-05:00

Well, it is Christmas Eve, and I would like to share a few things with you before I sign off for this blessed holiday. I hope everyone is ready and safely where they need to be.

First I would like to make a mention to the Trenton Fire and Rescue. This is a small unit, but they do all kinds of wonderful things for the community. Monday night they mounted Santa to the front of the fire engine, and painstakingly went up and down each town road handing out candy canes. I wanted a picture, but they were taking them, so I hope to get one soon. It should be pretty funny because Caitlin is scared of Santa, and DJ practically had to rope tie her to do it, LOL!

Next, and if you are ever in the area, stop by the Stephen Foster State Park Festival of Lights. This is not the light exhibit we were going to go to, but it was recommended to us, so we did. First we had Chinese food at the Fuking restaurant. It was good and sort of fancy too. Then we were off to White Springs for the lights. We thought it was just a drive through light exhibit, but you could drive, walk and even ride the horse drawn carriage. We did the carriage ride, plus walk. It was a bit more expensive than the wagon ride, but hey we are worth it. DJ took over 350 pictures plus the ones I took. He is becoming quite the fanatic, lol! It was warm and lovely and from the previous pictures you can see it snowed, not really lol! The museum was lovely, and I hope to get to visit again when I can really look around. It is a nice little state park.

We are on Christmas break until Jan 5th, and for that I am happy. I have grading and report cards to do.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas. Stay safe, and be happy.

Painting On Pine Cones

2011-12-23T06:25:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, was our first official painting class since Thanksgiving. My mom, the art teacher, was busy with puppies and we were busy with holiday fun. So we painted on pine cones yesterday.

It was a free type of lesson, with emphasis on blending and creativity for this assignment. These are large pine cones and it was quite a lengthy project. We still have several left, which I will store for next year. These make lovely table decor.

We have been doing half days of lessons, since most kids are on Christmas break. DJ started Spanish with FLVS, and will work on that over the break, and Caitlin will continue with at least one cycle of Head of the Class.

Tomorrow I will share the pictures from the Festival of Lights, from Tuesday night. Have a great day.

It Snowed Yesterday In Florida!

2011-12-21T19:19:00.011-05:00

Last evening it snowed here in Florida. How cool is that? Awesome!

Last Christmas Party For The Year

2011-12-19T16:33:00.006-05:00

Today was our fourth, and last, Christmas party for the year. It was our Homeschool group party and paint class. A gentleman who is an art teacher, volunteered to teach the kids to paint on crushed paint cans. This was interesting and fun. The kids each painted three cans, and I am going to attempt to make them into ornaments. The object of the project was to draw silly and goofy things on the can, with big and bold sizes and colors. It was fun, and we had a great time, plus it is recycling the cans for a useful project. All in all a great day. I am ready for vacation now.

4H Bake Off and Christmas Party

2011-12-16T20:58:00.003-05:00

Last night was the second annual 4H Bake Off and Christmas Party. I have been to more Christmas Parties this year than when I can last remember. I am not exactly a social butterfly so hibernating is starting to look good, lol! They have all been fun, and I still have one more on Monday. Our brownies didn't win the golden spoon but did win first place in the brownie category. I did not realize you could enter up to three items, but I do now. Next year we are going to do a cake as well as maybe some candy or something unique. I am glad they did it on a Thursday. Last year it was a Saturday and we could not participate. We sang Christmas Carols and then the kids played Pictionary. That was quite a hoot. Caitlin ended up not feeling well by the end of the night, with a fever to boot. Ibuprofen and 14 hours of sleep later, she was all better. Still stuffy and runny nose, but no fever. I can live with that. The weather is odd this time of year, cold then hot, and it can mess with your allergies or sinuses. So I thought maybe it is that, though she does not usually suffer from these ailments. That would be the luck of DJ and myself. Next week we are finally painting again, it seems like forever. I hope everyone has an awesome weekend! I still have a ton of wrapping to do, if anyone wants to volunteer :)

Photography Class Part 2

2011-12-14T20:08:00.004-05:00

Today was part two of Photography class with Ranger Pam, at the refuge. The kids put their journals together, and they all came out so nice. Then we went to the park for lunch and playtime. The weather was finally nice, after five days of gloom and doom.

Tomorrow is the 4H bake off, for Gilchrist County 4H. We are making homemade chocolate fudge peppermint brownies, using the chocolate peppermint sauce I bought from Ms Anne at Small Town Mommy, from her Pampered Chef party. I can not wait to taste them, and we are going to win that golden spoon. The kids are supposed to do the baking with little assistance from parents. So, we invited over another family in our group, to have a cooking party. Should be fun. I will try to remember to take pictures. DJ is usually good in that department. All entries have to be dropped off by 11. Then tomorrow night at 6 everyone returns to see who won, and to get to eat all the goodies made by everyone. I have a feeling I better eat no food tomorrow, lol. I have lost ten pounds, and I hate to move the scale the other direction. Then Friday is finally a day to rest and relax, minus grocery shopping, but still rest.

Back To Normal?

2011-12-13T08:19:00.003-05:00

What does that mean, normal? We were supposed to start our Christmas break next week, but we have sort of started it this week and will do school next week. As you well know, this time of year is filled with fun, friends and food. We have been having such a good time at all our Christmas events. Today Caitlin will do two cycles of Head of the Class and DJ has not chosen which subject he wants to do yet. He did History yesterday, so he has to pick something else. This is the first day, in like five days, that it is not raining or damp out so we can go for our morning walk. I have to play catch up on my online work, haven't made much money this week, and blogging friends blogs and Entrecard. I hate to feel like I am neglecting things. Last night at the 4H meeting the kids decided their volunteer day would be at Otter Springs. Now we just have to figure out what day and time works for everyone involved. That is a trick. I hope everyone is having an awesome week so far. If anyone is wondering about the dog I mentioned in my previous post, I have yet to see her in person. But I am watching.

Requesting Reviews Via Email

2011-12-11T21:09:00.002-05:00

Before I get to the topic of this post, a few updates are at hand. We have had a doozy of a week, and next week appears to be the same. Most of it was fun stuff, with some stressful stuff thrown in just for fun. I usually handle stress by attacking the problem, but sometimes it seems as though that will do more harm than good. Maybe I am to ethical, a goody two shoe, whatever you want to call it. Sometimes that just stresses me out. My father in law was in the hospital, thank goodness that stress ended well. It is hard when you are not near loved ones and things happen. Then some teeny stressors that were more annoying than anything else. Then came the neighbors. Ugh I am so tired of the neighbors. The hard part is their kids are good friends with my kids and play together almost everyday. They gave a birthday invitation for their daughter the day before her birthday. Really now I have to come up with a gift and my husband has to take them because I have to sleep for work. So I wrapped up the Toys for Tot doll, sent my husband to get another for Toys for Tots, and sent them off to the party. I won't go into great detail but these people are strange at best. I am not really sure what goes on over there, but my children are not allowed in their home, once in a while their yard. There have been several issues with their pets. Not nice issues, but now another has come up and since the story was told to me the same way several times I have to assume it could be true. This has been breaking my heart for over a day. I just don't understand why people are cruel to their animals. If you don't want it then take it to the pound to hopefully be adopted by someone else. So now I try to sneak peaks to see if I can see the dog to verify the story. I have not seen her yet. I am hoping the story is not true, for I don't really want to deal with this. Then the migraine came without warning. I wish I had an aura, at least I would know it was coming. Since stress is not the trigger, I know the stress didn't cause it, but it didn't help it either. I have not had a migraine in eight months, but have had two in the last two weeks, ugh what is going on! I had to call off from work. I never call off from work, and it makes me feel guilty. Only problem is is why? I had perfect attendance last year, and would have had it again this year if not for yesterday. It bothered me all day. So I have been feeling crappy. Thank goodness my wonderful husband and children take very good care of me when I am completely out of the game. So how was your week, last week? Hopefully better than mine. Now this next week we have a social event every day, except Tuesday. Won't be a whole lot of school being done, but that is OK, that is why we do school over the summer months. Tomorrow we are going shopping with my mom, and to Chinese for lunch. Then we have to hurry home, grab my husband from work, make truffles for 4H party, eat dinner, deposit my husband at his firehouse meeting, and then go to 4H. I am tired already.

Now to the title of this post. I am not going to use this gentleman's name or company. If you get an email like this you won't need a name, you will know what I mean. I was contacted via my personal email to do a review for a new and upcoming Tshirt company. He asked me to respond if I was interested. I sent back some basic questions. And, very quickly I might add, he sent me an email with instructions how to proceed. He would provide me with two Tshirts. He provided a link to pick the Tshirts, then you could add your logo and lettering to the shirt, save and then save the saved code back to him. I did all this, and the Tshirt looked sharp too. Then he sent me another email with the code to cash out and get the shirts for free, but ah here is the trick, I had to supply a credit card so I could be charged one cent if I should not do the review I would be charged full price. I immediately had red flags all over the place. I have done lots of reviews, and never ever been asked to use a credit card. Then I thought maybe because he contacted me privately that this was customary. So I asked blogging friends who also do reviews and they said absolutely not. So I am putting this warning up, so that all my readers will know to avoid these kinds of requests. I am glad I asked others first.

Homeschool Curriculum Links

2011-12-10T18:52:00.002-05:00

OK here are all the new links I have found, many I use. Please be sure to check all the links at the bottom of this blog as well. A lot of those are for younger ages, and I used them all the time when my kids were preschool, kindergarten ages. These are more geared towards older learners, at least most of them. You can always use the search bar at the top of this blog to find this post easily again. This is still not all of them, but I will get them all eventually. These should keep you occupied for a while

http://www.compassion.com/christian-home-school.htm
http://thebearthinstitute.memberlodge.com/wildlifeeducation
http://www.reading-with-kids.com/index.html
http://www.nps.gov/learn/curriculum.htm
http://learner.org/
http://www.earlyamerica.com/ben1.htm/
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activities-and-projects/?ar_a=1&ar_r=1
http://maps4kids.com/
http://www.myaudioschool.com/
http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/hiking/compass.htm
http://www.multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm
http://dltk-bible.com/genesis/lesson-otbooks.htm
http://www.teachercreated.com/free/
http://www.50states.com/
http://21stcenturylit.org/index.php
http://www.gameclassroom.com/
http://www.braineos.com/
http://www.mrcpl.org/literacy/lessons/sight/index.html
http://archaeology.mrdonn.org/games.html
http://www.gcflearnfree.org/
http://www.creative-chemistry.org.uk/index.htm
http://www.srh.weather.gov/srh/jetstream/why.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/
http://www.storylineonline.net/
http://eduscapes.com/ladders/themes/webquests.htm
http://kidcourses.com/
http://www.eschoolonline.com/
http://www.eschoolonline.com/company/examples/eye/eyedissect.html
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/socialstudies/
http://www.songsforteaching.com/index.html
http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/
http://www.science-teachers.com/
http://www.geography4kids.com/
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Education/ConservationCentral/teacher/default.cfm
http://www.e-learninglinks.com/history.htm
http://msnucleus.org/membership/index.html
http://www.sciencewithme.com/
http://www.nga.gov/kids/kids.htm
http://www.amnh.org/ology/index.php
http://www.khanacademy.org/

Virtual School

2011-12-08T20:01:00.002-05:00

Today was our first day of absolute complete schooling and nothing else. This month is so busy, that we have been doing just the most important lessons each day, and then the fun stuff. Next week is not better. Three out of the five days we have other activities going on. So we will be doing mostly half days again. We didn't get to paint, but hopefully that will get squeezed in next week, but it might have to wait until Christmas vacation. I have decided that both kids will do something over the Christmas break. They must do at least one assignment per day. Caitlin will do Head of the Class and DJ will probably pick Science or History. I am certain it won't be math, lol. I signed DJ up today for the Florida Virtual School, as a homeschool child. I want him to take Spanish, as he needs a language to graduate and I know I can not teach it. I am lucky I can teach English. We will see how that goes, and then decide from there for other courses. Since it is free, I might as well take advantage of it. The process was much simpler from when I looked five years ago. They have a public school and homeschool option. Hopefully this will make classes I can not teach easier for all of us. Tomorrow I will be sharing a whole bunch of new links I have discovered for homeschool lessons, many are free. You can browse the current ones way at the bottom of this blog. The new ones will be in a post. Friday's are a free fun type of day. Lessons in the morning, then movies for the afternoon.

Lesson Plans For 12/08/11:

DJ:
Science: Entomology and Elements
Math: Saxon 65 chapter 54
Health: The Skin
Analogies
Social Studies: Map Skills
Cursive Writing
Spelling: Chapter 34
Reading Comprehension
Language Arts: Quotation Marks

Caitlin:
Reading: My I Book
Head of the Class: Two cycles
Math: Place value, time, adding two numbers
Science: Entomology and hibernation
Language Arts: Words ending in LY, spelling
Social Studies: Plymouth Colony: Building a village

State Parks and Photography Contests

2011-12-06T20:57:00.005-05:00

Today was an awesome day and a disappointing day all rolled up in one big fat ball.

First I have to tell you about these cute kitties. I am allergic to kitties so they are not mine. However, the neighbors whom my children play with on an almost daily basis, were letting the children decorate the back porch. The kitties were all fascinated by the tinsel as you can see. The fun thing about cats and kittens, is you just need a prop and a camera to get cute shots. They don't need prompting or coddling to perform.

As far as school goes Caitlin did Head of the Class in the morning, then had to clean her room. DJ began his Science assignment, from The National Zoo, on bears. This is an extensive assignment and will require a few days of research and writing. He was enjoying it, so that is good. Then we went off to the park for our playdate. The weather was amazing and everyone had fun.

Later in the evening I checked the Nat Geo Kids website to see if the winners of the photography contest had been announced. They hadn't but there were all the entries for everyone to view. With over 20,000 entries it would have taken me forever to go through them all. So I signed in using my username and password and it said we had not uploaded any photos. Now I am certain we had to put them under my username, but I am hoping we put them under his own username and just can not remember the username and password. But, I am afraid we did something wrong and our pictures were not there. They don't refuse any, so I know it wasn't that. I scoured through my emails looking for the confirmation email that I swore I got when we uploaded them, but it wasn't there. So DJ was disappointed, but he took it well. I feel so awful, ugh! But, I did sign him up for him to have a photo album account on the Nat Geo Kids website, and he can upload his best and favorite pictures. Then after they are approved they can be viewed and receive comments. Next year when the contest comes around again, we will be prepared with all his best pictures right there on his album. Then we can just go from there. Sad and disappointing but a lesson well learned. I wish they had more photography contests for kids available, but most require you to be 18, except 4H which of course we do.

I also discovered that Florida state parks will wave the entrance fee for school field trips, including homeschool groups. If you live in FL and you are interested the park ranger I spoke to said that a letter must be sent stating why you chose their park and what curriculum the field trip is focusing on. Cool!

Giant Turkey Vulture

2011-12-05T11:44:00.004-05:00

It seems like DJ takes his camera with him everywhere we go now. This is the first morning we have gotten to walk in almost a week. It was warm and 65 at 9 AM. You can't tell by the images, but this Turkey Vulture is huge. He was just sitting up on top of a big dead tree with his wings spread completely out. He stayed like that for a good couple minutes. DJ took several shots. If you click the image it will be bigger. His camera can only zoom just so far, but a good shot none the less. Usually you just see these birds either flying over head, or eating on something. We hardly ever get to see them like this. Yes, these are right in town. They seem to live a top the old Spanish Moss trees. Tomorrow we have a playdate at the park, and it will be another beauty of a day. Wednesday we are supposed to be having painting class with my mom, but her dog has not had its puppies yet. So we might just paint anyways to practice. I was supposed to begin wrapping presents last night, but all I ended up doing was sorting them and organizing. Still need stocking stuffers, and ordered DJ's last gift this AM. How is everyone doing on their shopping lists?

Lesson Plans For 12/05/11:

DJ:
Reading: Read one chapter of The Great Brain Reforms
Math: Saxon 65 chapter 53
Spelling
Writing: Blog post on the Pileated Woodpecker

Caitlin:
Head of the Class: Two cycles
Reading: The Lost Kitten
Cursive and Printing Practice
Math: Greater than and less than, time, place value

The Simple School

2011-12-03T09:59:00.003-05:00

I should have shared this two days ago, but I forgot, sorry. If you like themed units, they have tons of other items as well, but The Simple Homeschool has a free newsletter and each week they send out a free themed unit study. Right now they are having the 12 Days of Christmas freebies, where each day they send you a free themed unit. You do have to sign up for the newsletter to get the freebie. These are great for any child not just homeschooled children. They also have a Facebook page you can follow them, if you are into Facebook. Check it out.

Plain Old School Day?

2011-12-01T18:35:00.003-05:00

LOL, we had just a plain old school day today. Next week we are busy again with a playdate and possibly painting and shopping for Christmas another. That one is up in the air because my mom, who is our painting teacher has a pregnant dog, and she will not leave her until she has the puppies and they are stable. I believe they are actually due Sunday, so we will have to wait and see on painting class. Tomorrow is Friday and we are doing some Reading and Math, and then Christmas specials with popcorn. Anyone interested in a great sale, I am having a 25 Days of Christmas sale in my Etsy store. Each day a new item will be on sale, today is this Amethyst ring for 8 bucks. So be sure to check it out at my Etsy store. Each item ends at 8 AM the following morning, when the next item goes on sale.

Lesson Plans For 12/01/11:

DJ:
Cursive Writing
Health: The Endocrine System
Religion: Noah's Ark
Language Arts: Commas in a letter
Math: Saxon 65 chapter 51
Social Studies: The Middle Ages, chapter 14
Reading Comprehension

Caitlin:
Math: Place value, time and skip counting
Language Arts: Nouns, ing words, proper nouns
Head of the Class: 2 cycles
Cursive Writing
Religion/Health: Noah's Ark
Reading: Stuck in the Mud

Photography Class at the Nature Refuge

2011-11-30T18:02:00.004-05:00

What a crazy, busy, fun day. We all met at the nature refuge, where we volunteer, with some new friends too for photography class with Ranger Pam. Since I now have a new camera, the first shots I took were so huge they wouldn't download, now these ones seem too small. At any rate these are the ones I took. The last picture is of the old boat dock along the Suwannee that is on protected land. It is so old we weren't allowed to actually walk out onto it. After class, we had a picnic lunch then went to the park for play time. I am pooped and still have a lot to do, but it was worth it. In two weeks we go back for the second part of the class. Each child will use their own pictures they took to make a nature journal, and write about why they took each picture they did. Both kids are standing under a bat house, well not directly under it because they drop guano at will and you don't want to be standing there when they do. You can also tell from the two pictures that I took Caitlin's without flash and DJ's with flash, very dramatic difference. This new camera has a setting where it takes two pictures at the same time, one with flash and one without, very neat. You just have to be sure the subject stays still while the second one clicks through or you end up with nothing there or someone walking away, lol! DJ has gone through all his pictures and picked five to have blown up and printed off for his 4H events starting in January. He still has a lot of time to take pictures and finish his book, but it is always better to be prepared. Now I must go do some work.

Insects, Insects, Insects

2011-11-29T08:42:00.003-05:00

We have been studying Entomology with our 4H curriculum book. Those of you who know me, know I do not like bugs. But this has actually been quite interesting. Today we are making a sort of bug's eye. Using straws that is. Bugs have compound eyes, and if you care to read about them you can here. The video below is a nice little instructional video about insects. Tomorrow we will be at the nature refuge for Photography class. It is actually a two day class, but I am unsure of when the second class will be. Since I thought DJ broke our other camera, by dropping it, I bought a new one. Only problem is I don't know how to use it well, LOL! DJ was given the old one for his photography lessons. Oh, btw I found a cool moisture experiment for Science which I will share one day this week.

Lesson Plans For 11/29/11:

DJ:
Cursive Writing
Science: Entomology, matter, insect eyes, moisture experiment
Social Studies: Map skills
Language Arts: Commas in personal letter
Math: Saxon 65 chapter 50
4H Photography: Rule of thirds, chapter review

Caitlin:
Head of the Class: 2 cycles
Science: Wetlands, Entomology, moisture experiment, turtle word search
Printing Practice
Math: Place value, fact families
Spelling and Reading
Christmas dot to dot
Social Studies: First Thanksgiving
Language Arts: Poem with activity

Back To Classes

2011-11-28T08:20:00.003-05:00

Even though we did watch a lot of education programs last week, and one writing assignment, we were officially out of school for the Thanksgiving break. Now we are back in school, and back to lessons. We do have a playdate at the park today, at noon, as long as it doesn't rain. But, this morning is all lessons. DJ wrote his own Christmas song, and it is his writing assignment for today. You can find it on his blog. I hope everyone has a great start to their week. What is everyone's kids hoping for, for Christmas?

Lesson Plans For 11/28/11:

DJ
Writing: Christmas Song
Math: Saxon 65: Chapter 48
Reading: One chapter of the book, The Great Brain Reforms
Social Studies: Middle Ages: Chapter 13
Cursive Writing

Caitlin:
Head of the Class: 2 cycles
Math: Place value, tens and ones
Spelling
Cursive Writing
Social Studies: Fire Safety
Language Arts: Synonyms
Sight Words

Our Thanksgiving Day

2011-11-25T09:58:00.005-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This Thanksgiving was a bit different for us. My husband was not here. He went to NY for a surprise gift for his Dad, and was he surprised. At first the kids were sad, but we had a lot of fun all by ourselves. We watched movies, ate popcorn, painted our 25 days of Christmas ornaments, and my mom was here for dinner. It was a nice and relaxing day. Plus since my hubby wasn't here I didn't cook the huge turkey, just a turkey breast in the crock pot, plus everyone elses favorites. Craig will be home this afternoon, and we will resume lessons Monday. From now until after Christmas, as with all families, our social calendar is just overflowing. As much as I love this time of year, it seems we are distracted all the time by the fun, to concentrate on school work. Thank goodness we put in extra time over the Summer. It pays off this time of year. Oh, and no I am not a Black Friday shopper. Matter of fact I have completed my shopping, minus a couple of donation things, and stocking stuffers. Everything should be delivered today. Now I just have to wrap, yuck!

What Am I Thankful For?

2011-11-22T21:25:00.003-05:00

DJ had one last assignment this week, before Thanksgiving break. He had to write about what he was thankful for. He decided to write in the form of poetry, and you can read it on his blog. Now I get to write out mine.

Thankful means to feel relief or great gratitude. So what am I thankful for? Well, how can you just pick one thing for which you should give thanks, yet how can you say you would be thankful for all that encompasses your life. Hmm, well for me, I am one of those annoying people who sees the glass as always half full, never half empty. I am an optimist, yet realist. I don't believe in misery, depression, or even being sad for any length of time. Before you assume I must have lived some rosy perfect life to have such an attitude. No, this is the furthest thing from the truth. I have had awful, sad, really bad things happen to me. But, I have also experienced the wisdom and strength those things have afforded me. I have also had beautiful, wonderful things occur in my life, that have shaped and molded me to be the person I am today. So, on this Thanksgiving Day, and every day I am thankful, grateful and relieved for all the experiences that have encompassed my whole life to this very day. Without them what would I be thankful for? I wouldn't be me or where I am. Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers, family, friends, and all who celebrate this wonderful holiday.

Thanksgiving Pictures Comments - Photobucket

Story Harbour Children's Audio Folktales

2011-11-20T21:02:00.002-05:00

One of the things I would like my children to improve on, is listening to a story and being able to tell me what the story is about. For me, I have a very active style of teaching my children. So, once they both were old enough to read well, they both read to each other, or to me. I no longer read to them. It has worked well for both of them. But being able to listen and visualize in your imagination is very important as well. So I was thrilled when I got the chance to review Story Harbour vol.1, performed by Zetta Harbour. So far we have only been able to listen to one story, and both of my kids were very interested, so we are moving in the right direction. I am hoping these lovely stories will be a mainstay in our weekly lessons, until they both master them.

The Story Harbour stories travel the world, and tell of the virtues any parent would want a child to learn. Such as honor, gratitude, being fair, respect and so many more. These stories are not just for children, but adults too. The stories on Volume 1 are:

Track 1: Anansi & Stories
Track 2:Master Of All Masters
Track 3:The Little Old Woman Who Lived In A Vinegar Bottle
Track 4:The Crane Wife
Track 5:The Sound Of The Money
Track 6:The Innkeeper's Clever Daughter

If you would like to order Story Harbour Vol.1, just click the highlighted link to go to their website. This would make a great Christmas gift for any child on your list. For children too young to read on their own yet, or children who are very much into learning by sound.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

How To Bake And Carve A Turkey

2011-11-18T21:02:00.003-05:00

Who usually cooks and carves the turkey in your home? Here in our house, Thanksgiving is my husband's favorite holiday, but this year it will be my job to cook and carve the turkey. I have done this in the past, but not since I met my husband. I had to do some review, and so can you with the videos below.

What We Have Been Up To

2011-11-17T18:50:00.003-05:00

I have posted so much about paints and pictures, that it seems that is all we have been doing, but that is not completely true. We have been busy rearranging and planning for the holiday next week, and the following week we are going to a photography class at the nature refuge. This took some juggling, and it now has turned into a two day class instead of one. That only complicated schedules, but no matter we really want to do it. We also decided with my mom, our painting teacher, that this next class will be on Thanksgiving day and we will be painting ornaments into advent ornaments. Each ornament will be numbered 1-25 on one side, and something pretty on the other side. Then starting Dec. 1st through the 25th a new ornament will be added to the tree until they are all on, on Christmas. It will all work out, it always does. Today we did a lot of book work, and will do some tomorrow, though both kids caught up nicely. DJ has a bit of math left, and a Science chapter. Caitlin is pretty good. So we might be able to have a light day after all. Next week my husband is off the whole week, so there will be no school. This was not planned, but unavoidable, again more juggling of lessons and days off in the future, but it must be done. One of the many things I appreciate about homeschooling is the flexibility it affords me. I am sure I have mentioned that before, LOL! The National Geographic Kids Photography contest has ended and winners will be announced Dec. 5th. Wish DJ luck! Then we have all these 4H meetings, events and commitments, boy we are busier than I realized. I didn't even mention Christmas events.

Lesson Plans For 11/17/11:
DJ:
Social Studies: Map skills, Chapter 12 Middle Ages
Cursive Writing
Math: Proportion and percentage
Science: Entomology
Reading Comprehension
Language Arts: Commas

Caitlin:
Social Studies: Fire Safety
Science: Turtles, wetlands, entomology
Reading: Animal Camoflauge
Language Arts: Antonyms, words ending in ED
Cursive Writing
Head of the Class: Two cycles

Meet The Snowman Family

2011-11-16T17:03:00.007-05:00

These are all four snow bottles on the front.

DJ did not paint the back of his bottle, so this is my mom's, Caitlin's and mine is the side because I wanted to show my fancy writing.

This is the back of mine. Since we live in FL and I am trying to master the rose stroke my bottle is full of flowers and grass. Snowman in the grass, LOL!

Caitlin wanted to do a second one, so she made an angel on this one.

This is Caitlin's flower garden, rainbow and sky. DJ spent a good part of the second part of the class doing the rose stroke on a plate too. He didn't want to keep it though.

The Middle Ages

2011-11-15T10:20:00.002-05:00

These next two weeks of school will be different and interesting. Because of the holiday next week, we are doing more hands on learning, than book learning. There has also been online and TV documentaries and work. It is a much different way to learn than a tradition book learning style. It allows for much flexibility that we need right now, yet still encourages learning and growing. Today I squeezed in a playdate which was unexpected. Next Tues is when we would normally do a playdate, but due to the holiday it has to be this week. So we are off to the park in just a little bit. I have posted the remainder of the Middle Ages videos, and DJ will begin watching them tomorrow. The first four are in the archives. You can just use the search bar at the top of this blog to find them easier. I hope everyone has an awesome day today.

Woohoo Extra Day Of Painting

2011-11-14T17:13:00.007-05:00

Today we got in an extra day of painting class. Even though my mom was not here to teach it, she will be here Wednesday, I spoke to her over the weekend. We discussed a few things, and she thought if the kids could practice more than every other week, it might go better. Since DJ has blending down pretty good, he needed to start working on very specific strokes. Since the only two I am comfortable with are the scrunchy, and one leaf design we decided to concentrate on those. My mom also suggested all three of us draw out what we wanted to draw first, so we had a visual of what we wanted it to look like. So, I found a cute snowman in one of my counted cross stitch books and each of us drew two snowmen, trying to make them exact. They weren't exact LOL. Since I can not draw I was very disappointed, but after I painted him he looked much better. So we drew, then we practiced the strokes on dry paper with just the brush. Then, I made them choose the color blends they wanted to use first, and we all used the same. Only one color blend at a time, then wash and dry brush, and move to the next. This worked very well for all of us. DJ swears he does not have the hand dexterity to follow the strokes, but he improves every time. Caitlin is still having an issue following specific directions, but she is only 7 after all. DJ's snowman looks like it is blowing in the wind. He decided to pose with all three paintings below. Caitlin said no, she wanted to play outside. Can't blame her there, it was gorgeous today. We will save the other drawing for Wed when my mom is here, to paint the snowmen onto bottles.

DJ did a blog post book report on A Christmas Carol. Any of you who have reluctant writers, or do not like book reports, blogging forces them to do a better job as others could read it. It has been so much help for DJ. He also read one chapter in Darien's Rise, house chores, and of course Art and painting class. Tomorrow we are squeezing in a playdate at the park, before the holiday, and bookwork in the morning before we go.

Veteran's Day Parade In A Small Town

2011-11-12T10:48:00.012-05:00

Yesterday was Veteran's Day, and while we had no school we did go down the parade sponsored by our small town. Now we went last year too, and this year was slightly improved, but I think someone needs to learn how to put on a parade. When I was a kid, and there were tons of parades back then, it wasn't just the one town that participated in the parade. Other town schools, bands, fire dept, American legions, and groups were invited to represent themself in the parade. Now I know other towns didn't do a parade, so this could have been done. We will have to see for next year. It was cold, last year it rained, but the sun was warm and beautiful. Here are some pictures DJ took of the parade.

What A Beautiful Day

2011-11-10T06:47:00.016-05:00

These pictures are in chronological order, backwards. You would think I would remember to load them backwards so they come out forwards, lol. Remember last month I told you if you frequent state parks a lot you can be a volunteer photographer? It is easy just go to stateparks.com to sign up. Last month I uploaded two of the pond pictures we took and now my pictures are on the home page of the Cedar Key Nature Refuge page. Cool!

Yesterday, was the most beautiful day to be outside. It was crystal clear blue skies, a nice breeze, and about eighty degrees. We started our day by going to the nature refuge to sweep leaves and debris off of the boardwalk and rest area on the River Trail. Since it has been chilly at night there where no reptiles to be seen. Not enough sun on the trail for them to find a spot to get warm I guess. Tonight it is going to be 34 and tomorrow 29 at night, brr. We did see rooted up areas that wild pigs do, but no pigs. Thank goodness because they are aggressive and mean. The bottom set of pictures are from the River Trail and the Suwannee River which is at the end of the trail. Ranger Pam will be doing a photography class that is free, and we are looking forward to that.

Then we headed to Cedar Key for a picnic lunch, and play time. Cedar Key is a small fishing and resort type town on the Gulf of Mexico. If you look at the one picture, and make it bigger, you will see a factory looking thing out in the water. That is actually the nuclear power plant which is actually in Crystal River about fifty miles away. That is how clear the sky was. I have been to Cedar Key several times and never seen it before. DJ took most of the pics, with myself shooting just a couple. He is really getting to know this camera very well. Even with its limitations he is doing quite well with his photography. Some of the birds pictured are Seagulls, and some are Sandpipers.

Today we are back to regular school business. Tomorrow is Veteran's Day and there is no school. Well not for the kids. I get to catch up on grading papers. I hope everyone is having a beautiful week so far.

Man Oh Man

2011-11-08T18:46:00.003-05:00

I consider myself to be a very tolerant person, who can see both sides of a story. However, the line stops at pedophiles and I don't mean the 17 year old that has sex with the 16 year old and then has to register as a sex offender. No, I am talking about predatory sex offenders, that have no use whatsoever to this society. In case you have not heard the former defensive coach for the Penn State football program has been arrested on several counts of child rape of young boys. I will not share the grand jury indictment because it is very graphic and disgusting. You can, however find it on Twitter very easily. Before you make an opinion read it. These are not just accusations but results of a three year investigation into the allegations. It is very difficult to read and if you are not disgusted by the time you are done, then I feel sorry for you. To make it worse it appears college officials covered it up, rather than dealing with it properly. I was so disgusted that it just makes me realize how low humanity really is. Society reviles people who abuse animals more than people who abuse children. Society finds it disgusting and abhorrent to torture and abuse a dog, yet child molesters, child abusers, and pedophiles very often get off with a slap on the wrist. Will we never see the error of our ways? Beware for your children these pigs are everywhere. They hide behind the foil of being educated, kind and lovers of children who only want to help them.

Lesson Plans For 11/08/11:

DJ:
Cursive writing
Science: Chemistry, vertebrates test
Reading: The Golden Serpent
Analogies
Persuasive Writing
Reading Comprehension

Caitlin:
Head of the Class: Two cycles
Language Arts: Words ending in ed, word order in sentences
Math: Saxon 1
Science: Clouds
Cursive Writing
Printing Practice
Sight Words: Fill in the blanks

Meet the Elements

2011-11-07T11:13:00.003-05:00

Do you remember learning about the elements and The Periodic Table, in school? How much of it do you remember. I do remember a few of them, but in no way could recite them all. DJ is just starting to learn about Matter and the Elements and all that goes with it. The cute song below may help you remember them.

Coming up this week we have our second trip to the nature refuge for volunteer work. That will be on Wednesday. Because DJ is doing book two of The Story of the World, I have picked some extra American history to add in to Social Studies days. We have begun learning about The Constitution. DJ had a writing challenge on the Constitution that will be posted to his blog. I can't share the whole challenge because I got it from Edhelper which you have to pay for. But it is only 20 bucks per year, so it is well worth it. I use it all the time.

Lesson Plans For 11/7/11:

DJ:
Math: Saxon 65 Chapter 46
Writing: Constitution challenge
Social Studies: The Constitution
Reading: Chapters one and two of Darien's Rise

Caitlin:
Head of the Class: Two Cycles
Language Arts: Words ending in ed, and telling sentences
Sight Words: Fill in the blank sentences
Printing Practice: Sight words
Cursive Writing
Social Studies: The Constitution
Math: Saxon 1, and counting pennies

Nothing Exciting Today

2011-11-03T16:49:00.003-04:00

I guess all the excitement for the week is over. I have to work tomorrow night, so no lessons tomorrow except grocery shopping. I am in a bit of a mood because someone started some trouble and I am now being asked to forget about it. This is not easy for me, but I will try to be the better person. Oh, and I ran out of printer paper so I can not print any of the extra lessons I wanted to print, grrrrr.

Lesson Plans For 11/3/11:

DJ:
Cursive Writing
Health: The muscular system
Math: Saxon 65 chapter 45
Science: Elements
Language Arts: Commas

Caitlin:
Cursive Writing
Head of the Class: Three cycles
Social Studies: Mayflower Compact
Language Arts: Action words
Math: Saxon 1, telling time
Shape Words: Crossword puzzle
Word Play: Worksheet

Painting Class #3: Turkeys

2011-11-02T17:15:00.011-04:00

OK, first off let me explain what you are looking at. I thought we were painting turkeys on glass bottles today. I got my cable communications mixed up with my mom, the teacher, and we were going to draw and then pain the turkeys on paper so we got an idea of how it would look and if it is what we wanted. So that is what we did. Since we are concentrating on learning to blend in one stroke, I saved one of the blending plates to share. I would have taken pictures of them all, but the kids already threw them away. The yellow and purple feathered turkey is mine. I figured since this was a sort of experiment kind of turkey that I would practice strokes taught on the video. It was going great until I got to the face where I practice her fancy leaves and his face looks like a giant pansy, LOL! He also has eyebrows and a vine type mouth. Oh well at least I got the strokes better. DJ is doing well, and I am going to have him start practicing the strokes with a dry brush in the instruction book. That way he can follow the strokes without making a mess, and get a feel for how the stroke should go. That has helped me a lot too. Caitlin is still working on blending and has not moved to strokes yet. But she is having a ball painting and I don't think she much cares about the rules of it all. If you are not familiar with the Donna Dewberry method, you are supposed to be able to load a paintbrush and blend your colors all in one stroke of the brush. If you look at the turkey feathers that are yellow and purple, each feather is one stroke of the paint brush, so you can visualize what I mean.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T18:01:00.013-04:00

I am so glad that they did Trick or Treating here in our town on Monday rather than Saturday. I actually got to enjoy the kids, their costumes, and we had a blast taking pictures as you can see. Biscuit will do just about anything for a duck treat which she loves more than anything. DJ is really learning the ins and outs of our digital camera now. He has taken a ton of pictures this last week, between Seaworld and Halloween. Next week we are heading to the Gulf of Mexico to see what kinds of shots he can get there. He didn't take all of these. I have to upload them to his blog or his online photo journal and that takes a while. I think he has already picked the one he wants to enter for contests this year for 4H. I must admit it is a beauty. I won't share it yet though. I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween and I will be glad when all this chocolate is gone. I am trying so hard to cut my sugar intake. Yesterday was writing and reading and household chores for school.

Lesson Plans For 11/01/2011:

DJ:
Adventures in Literature: The Stone
Science: 4H entomology, Classifying animals test, Elements
Math: Saxon 65 chapter 44
Social Studies: Chapter 10 Middle Ages
Reading Comprehension
Cursive Writing
Language Arts: Commas

Caitlin:
Science: 4H entomology, wind
Cursive Writing and Printing Practice
Head of the Class: 2 cycles
Social Studies: Fire Safety
Language Arts
Math: Saxon 1, Measurement

To Scare Or Not To Scare?

2011-10-31T10:39:00.003-04:00

Happy Monday and Happy Halloween. Since today is Monday, that means it is time for a writing challenge. Today, DJ and I will be writing about being scared. Do you like being scared, or scaring others and why? If you would like to check out what DJ had to say head on over to DJ's blog. If you, or your children would like to join the Monday writing challenge please feel free to do so. Leave me a link in the comments so I can read your post. Have fun!

Do I like to be scared? Short answer is yes! I love scary movies and books. The scarier the better. Why? Because I like excitement and the feeling it gives me when I am scared. The rush of adrenaline, the nervous anxiety and the feeling of being on the edge of my seat. I watch scary movies alone in the dark, my husband doesn't like them. DJ would watch them with me, but he is still young for some of the ones I watch. I think personally the movie that scared me the most was, The Serpent and the Rainbow. I still am not sure why, but it scared the pants off of me, seemed too real maybe. I think those are the scariest books and movies, the realistic ones. They don't have to even be horror but books like A Child Called It, or When Rabbit Howls, both true stories, can be very frightening. I don't like to be bored, LOL! And I also love the dark. I have sensitive eyes and have worked night shift so many years, that I just prefer the darkness.

Do I like scaring other people? No, actually I don't. I don't find humor in other people's pain. If it is someone who I know doesn't mind being startled or scared then I might play a prank, but sticking a snake or spider in front of someone that is petrified I do not find funny at all. I like the excitement of being scared others might not.

So what do you say about this topic? To Scare or Not To Scare?

Happy Halloween Pictures Comments - Photobucket

The History Of Halloween and Pilgrim Virtual Field Trip

2011-10-29T10:09:00.003-04:00

I have a lot to share in one little post. I don't want anyone to miss anything they might want to use in their educational adventures. If you go to Scholastic, you can sign up for a free Thanksgiving virtual tour with educational resources. The first tour is Wed Nov 2nd, so I am sharing the link so you can sign up in time. We did it last year too, but the link didn't work great and they have added more stuff and updated the tour. They will send you email reminders so you don't miss any episodes.

Monday is of course Halloween. While I do not consider Halloween a holiday many people refer to it as such. Have you ever wondered why Halloween is even celebrated? The History Channel has put together an awesome show so you can find out. You can view it below or Tivo it Oct 31st at 10 PM on the History Channel.

One more Tivo alert, Nov 7th at 6 AM the History Channel will be having a documentary to cover Veteran's Day, called The True Story of Veterans Day. There is a teacher's guide that goes along with the documentary, but it is a pdf file that I am not sure I am supposed to share. But, you could go to the History Channel website and get the teacher guide there. We will be doing this one as well.

We have been learning about pumpkins lately. Those of you who are used the themed units then you know that there are a ton of different ways to cover a topic. We have painted on pumpkins, learned how pumpkins grow, looked at some pumpkin recipes, made pumpkin crafts and coloring pages. I want to make homemade pumpkin pie but I am not optimistic that this is something I can achieve. If anyone knows of a super easy homemade pumpkin pie recipe for a novice please share it with me.

Happy Saturday, everyone.

The Last Hoorah!

2011-10-27T12:28:00.027-04:00

Yesterday was sadly our last trip to Seaworld on our year pass. The kids and I could go forever, just to feed the dolphins. It was the most amazing experience. It is hard to take pictures of live animals and feed them at the same time, LOL! I almost dunked the camera several times. You could pet them, and talk to them we loved it! The Shamu show was a new show and since the park was basically not busy there was only like 10 min waits for attractions. That meant we got to ride, see shows, eat and see all exhibits in one day. We didn't get to do that the other times. It was quite warm so we were more than happy to sit in the soak zone for the dolphin show, which was splendid I might add. Not as splendid as feeding the dolphins but still splendid. We will miss going to Seaworld, we can always go again, but there are other places we want to visit. A great day indeed!

Seaworld, Fun With Leaves and Hard Light Photos

2011-10-25T17:11:00.011-04:00

Wow it has been a busy week already! Yesterday we did a photo shoot for DJ's 4H book. He had to take hard light pictures, which means full sunlight. These are hard on your subjects because we have to squint and make funny faces to see. The rose and the lizard fared better in the direct sunlight. I love this top picture of Caitlin. She is in the direct sun, but shading herself with an umbrella, love it. The other pictures are fun in the leaves.

I am trying to give up regular Pepsi for diet Pepsi. I am not sure if it is the sugar or the caffeine that I am so addicted to, but I am finding this extremely difficult. We have been walking at least three times a week, so drinking soda and other junk really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So I keep trying. Pray for me, I need all the help I can get.

If anyone read my previous post, then you know I had to go over report cards with the kids. Caitlin was very happy, she got all A's, this really is not hard for her and I may need to add more challenges for her. DJ is an overall average of 86 for all grade combined. I myself am very happy with this, since Science and Math are exceptionally harder this year. But, he is not happy. So, I asked him what Math and Science grade would make him happy. To my astonishment he said a 90 in Science and a 95 in Math would make him happy. As you probably read DJ's math grade especially is not where he wants it, because he does not check his work, doesn't answer completely, or rushes. It is not because he doesn't understand the material. So, I said to him a quote from a story he just read recently, " All Things Worth Having Are Worth Working Hard For." He looked at me oddly and said he didn't get it. The story was about a young girl who worked all summer in the fields so her family could go on a trip back to their country to visit. She was tired and sore and didn't think she could go anymore. Her mother said that quote to her, and it inspired her to finish up the work. I said to DJ how badly do you want a 95 in Math? Is it worth it to you to attain that goal? He said, yes. So I repeated the quote again. If it is worth a value to you then it is worth it for you to slow down, check your work and be sure you have done your best. Do some extra Math work to keep you fresh. If you want it you have to work for it. He said OK, I really want it. So we will see how bad he wants it.

Tomorrow we take our final trip to Seaworld. We get to feed the dolphins this time and hopefully we will get some more great pictures to share. Since DJ needs a photo with the topic of people, I think this will be a great place to get an awesome shot. Back to regular lessons Thursday and Friday, and a little double work even. I am loving this Florida weather right now. Cool at night and very warm in the daytime. Today we had a playdate at the park and the weather is spectacular. It makes the school work we did over the summer pay off now. BTW the lizard in the picture was no bigger than my fingernail plus his tail of course. He was so cold he was barely moving. Sitting on the porch trying to warm up. I hope he didn't get eaten.

Tenths, Hundredths and Report Cards

2011-10-24T08:26:00.002-04:00

I completed the first semester report cards last night, for both children. I use the report cards to reflect and learn how they are progressing. So what did I learn. For one thing DJ does not understand the decimals, specifically decimals to the right of the decimal point. I just think it hasn't been covered enough yet. I also discovered that DJ rushes through his math and makes silly mistakes on material he knows. I always made him do math first thing each day. I slacked with that this year, and so far it is showing in his grades. By the end of the day, when he wants to do math last, he is making silly mistakes. So back to Math at the beginning of the day. He also knows how to check his answers and despite my prodding him to do so, he refuses to take the time to do it. He could easily find the simple mistake and correct it. I am putting this one on him. He needs to check his work if he wants his math grade to improve. DJ's overall average grade, for all subjects is 86 with Reading and Language Arts being the best two grades at 87 and 93. Caitlin did very well on her report card, and is reading at a much higher level than I anticipated. I am very happy about that. She doesn't like math, but is doing fine. Her biggest needs are following directions and completing work when it is assigned. She spends much of her Fridays completing work she didn't finish during the week. Not because she doesn't know how to do it, but because she doesn't want to do it.

Lesson Plans For 10/24/11:

DJ:
Writing: Create a short Halloween story using nouns, adjectives and verbs, blog post
Math: Decimal video
Reading: A Christmas Carol two chapters
Morning walk
4H photo shoot: Hard light and fun with leaves

Caitlin:
Head of the Class: Two cycles
Room Cleaning
Photo shoot

Fun Kids Songs With Kids Groove Nation

2011-10-22T18:44:00.005-04:00

I love music, my kids love music, but I can't teach music. I really don't know anything about music, other than what I like to listen to. This fun kids song CD called, Groove Kid Nation Music in Motion, will teach your young child about sounds different instruments make. It is a jazz style CD which introduces your child to jazz instruments and the sounds each makes. Each song is played by Jazz musicians from Louisiana, the heart of the Jazz movement. You will hear Itsy Bitsy Spider on the piano, and Three Blind Mice playing a trio of guitars. Plus each song will get your child moving, not just by the catchy tunes, but with instructions within each song that will direct your child to join in. Such as playing the air guitar, and other fun moves. My youngest child had a ball listening to these fun kids songs, and following along with the music. There is also an illustrated booklet that comes with each CD, that introduces children to all the characters on the CD. If you sign up for the free newsletter on their website you get a coloring book and some other cool items. You can listen to sample songs on the Groove Nation website, before you purchase your CD. Get your kids moving and grooving with Kids Groove Nation.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Free Teacher Resources And Lesson Plans

2011-10-20T12:11:00.004-04:00

Look at this adorable poncho my mom made for Caitlin. It is so sweet. She left off the button at the collar, because Caitlin specifically does not like things tight around her neck.

For any of you that are looking for free teacher resources, and free lessons you can check out Discovery Education. I have not used any of them yet, because we are using the National Zoo curriculum this year in part. There is not just Science, there is Social Studies, Math and English as well. So check it out if you need some good resources.

Tomorrow night I have to work. It is not my usual night, and I am already stressing over it, because it seems like I am losing a day this week. Tomorrow is also the last day of the grading period for the first semester. So I will be doing report cards in the near future. At least I am pretty much caught up on grading, not one of my stronger points. It is so tedious.

Lesson Plans For 10/20/2011:
DJ:
Science: Review and test for chapter 2
Health: The Skeletal system
Math: Chapter 41 Saxon 65
Reading: Field Work with questions
Spelling: Chapter 33
Language Arts: Exclamation points
Handwriting
Analogies: Finish questions not done from previous assignment

Caitlin:
Head of the Class: 2 cycles
Math: Measuring inches, subtraction, skip counting
Language Arts: Big vs little
Printing Practice
Same vs Different WS
Sight words
Clock work
Calendar work
Complete all unfinished work for the week
Reading: The Last Puppy

Painting Class Week Two: Pumpkins

2011-10-19T16:26:00.007-04:00

These are the pumpkins we painted from painting class today, scroll down to see the rest. Both kids goal was to learn loading their brush properly and blending. DJ has mastered this quite well on paper, but pumpkins are very hard to paint on. The natural grooves in the pumpkin make for non smooth strokes and the texture of the pumpkin is much different than paper. Since the paint does not absorb into the pumpkin you need much less paint than would be required on paper. Caitlin drew several faces on hers, and DJ made a scary face with blue blending all around the pumpkin. My mom did all kinds of odds and ends on hers. Mine was supposed to be a sunflower, but as you look at the picture it was way to big to look right. Thank goodness the pumpkin has another side, and as you can see it is much better. I showed the paper and plates that we did just to show the difference in the way the paint and strokes look on the two textures. In two weeks we are painting turkeys on glass bottles. We will have fun with that too.

Safety In The Science Lab

2011-10-18T10:23:00.003-04:00

We don't do a lot of lab type stuff, though we do experiments. I wanted to begin Chemistry this year, but I am not sure it will get fit in. DJ's science lesson today is about safety in the Science lab. The cute rap song in the video will help your child remember the safety rules of the lab.

Last night was our first 4H meeting. DJ got elected to be Historian this year. Caitlin is not yet old enough to hold an officer position. Not that she cares, she was too busy playing with her new friend that comes now.

Lesson Plans For 10/18/11:

DJ:
Cursive Writing
Math: Saxon 65 chapter 40
Reading Comprehension
Science: Classifying animals test, Safety in the lab, 4H entomology
Language Arts: Exclamation points
Writing: Review the writing process
Analogies

Caitlin:
Head of the Class: Two cycles
Sight Words: Printing
Science: Order to plant a flower, 4H entomology, pet pals
Social Studies: Fire safety- matches
Math: Saxon 1
Language Arts: Same and different, D or T words

Pumpkin Sugar Cookies On Lollipop Sticks

2011-10-17T12:03:00.003-04:00

Tonight is our first official 4H meeting of the new year. Over the summer there were some banquets and stuff, but this is a new year now. Everyone should bring a treat, and I always try to bake something fun. This helps the kids learn to follow directions, and basic cooking skills. I saw these cute sugar cookies with lollipop sticks in the grocery store, and I couldn't resist. We made the frosting orange so they look like pumpkins. Since DJ doesn't like the sprinkles, and I assume others might not as well, some were left naked without sprinkles. You can see the results in the pictures.

DJ completed most of his homework over the weekend, but did not do his writing post, so it will be done today. This was no fault of his own. I was a grouch and refused to lend him the use of the computer. Bad teacher I was. Besides cooking class, DJ did History, since Wednesday is History day, and we will be doing painting class. That way he does not miss an assignment and no homework. Chores and spelling round out the Monday school day for both kids. They are also watching the Gallapagos, which is a documentary on Nat Geo Wild that we tivoed. Caitlin had a book free day, as her room was dirty enough to occupy all her chores. I wish I knew how to make them see that being a slob is not a good thing. Tomorrow is Science, yay our favorite subject.

Homework Yes or No?

2011-10-15T09:59:00.002-04:00

Homework, are you for it or against it? The reason I ask, well there are two reasons, I am curious if other homeschoolers give homework and how public school moms feel about the amount of homework their children receive. Why do I care? Well DJ occasionally likes homework. For example this week we were very busy doing fun learning activities which takes away from book work that still needs to be completed. Since Friday is usually a casual type education day, I took this option away to do a full day of book work. DJ was none to happy, and requested he do homework over the weekend for a shorter Friday. So today he has reading with questions, and tomorrow writing and an art project, plus he is going to church. He may find he doesn't really care for homework. When DJ was in public school, mind you he only went K and 1st grade, they had homework every night and on the weekends. It so irritated me. I do not think kids that young should be, nor do they need homework. Middle school and high school yes, well maybe, but only if they can't get the assignment completed during school hours. If a child is in advanced classes, like I was in nursing school in high school, then homework is going to be expected. Those are my feelings on homework. What say you?

How To Make A Compass and How To Make A Snake Bite Kit

2011-10-13T17:30:00.003-04:00

So after heading out yesterday to the nature refuge to pick up garbage, I learned that I didn't feel really prepared. Even though I had a first aid kit, it didn't seem complete. One I didn't have a compass, and two no snake bite kit. You can make a compass, which we will do as a Science project, but it isn't really practical to lug around a cup of water with a needle in it. So I will buy a compass. Also if you watch the snake bite kit video, you will see that buying a kit would be much easier than making one. So I will hopefully find one locally. Hunting and camping is big here, so I don't see it being a problem. These items will then be added to our first aid kit. I also read up on alligators. They are not usually aggressive, except during mating and birthing season. So they start mating in like April and babies are done being born about July, so we won't be in the woods at that time. I really don't think when it is 100 and buggy I really want to be out there anyways. I didn't get to do any research on water moccasins, also called the cotton mouth, but I will get to it.

Lesson Plans For 10/13/11:

DJ:
Writing: Short story reminders and discussion about story he is writing
Math: Saxon 65 chapter 39
Science: Scale drawing
Language Arts: Question marks in quotations- review
Reading: A Christmas Carol
History: Chapter 7 The Middle Ages with test questions and Map Skills

Caitlin:
Math: Saxon 1, addition, drawing shapes
Head of the Class: Two cycles
Social Studies: Fire safety, The New World listen and read
Science: Flowers, weather and temperature
Language Arts: Animal adjectives, is and are in a sentence

Our First Volunteer Day

2011-10-12T17:46:00.010-04:00

Well we had an interesting day on our first day of volunteering at the nature refuge. We started off bright and early and met Ms Kristi at her home. We followed her there, I didn't know how to get there. On the way we saw a big, beautiful Bald Eagle. It was eating something dead in the road. We didn't have the camera ready, nor did we expect to see one, so we didn't get a picture. It was still amazing to actually see one.

Then we got to the refuge, met Ranger Pam, filled out some paperwork, and were given our assignment. Garbage pick up on the nature drive. As you probably guessed that means we would drive. It was like nine miles long, so good thing we drove. The two younger boys decided to walk a bit of the way. It rained a bit, and then got hot and humid. DJ snapped the Turkey Vulture high up in the tree. His friends flew away and he didn't feel like posing. Turkey Vultures are large birds, but you can't really tell way up in that tree. We did not see one snake, no disappointment there, but we did see what DJ thought was a Gator head. It did look like it too, and it was big, really big. We didn't get close and I didn't let him stare long. I really don't think gators mind staring, but to me it is menacing so I made him move on, LOL! How silly! The pictures below are of Pond 6, and what a pretty little pond. You could see something big moving in the murky waters, but couldn't tell what it was. Our friends said they have seen a very large gator sunning itself in this very spot. We saw a spider that none of us had seen before. It looked like it had a skeleton image on its back. It was weird. Then we ended up at the observation deck, but again only saw shadows in the water. We saw tons of butterflies and some birds. After we got back to the car, you had to walk to the observation deck, Ms Kristi's van would not start. Upon examination one of her belts had come off what appeared to be the alternator. Since none of us knew how to put it back on, we all jammed into my car, and returned to Ms Kristi's home so she could contact her mechanic, who is also her husband. We had lunch, visited a bit, and headed for home. We did get quite a bit of garbage picked up, mostly at the pond. I was disappointed people still feel the need to litter, but was glad we could help. As stressful as that was, at least we had a second car, and Ranger Pam informed us that she would be holding classes in the very near future. So, we are excited for that. We decided that we would go once a month to volunteer, as with everything else, it just seems the best to do. Tomorrow is catch up time for all lessons missed the past two days. Next week is a full week of school as well. What did you do today? Oh the one picture is of Caitlin doing her best Saint Bernard impersonation, LOL!

History Of The Holidays: Columbus Day

2011-10-10T09:11:00.000-04:00

No school today. Happy Columbus Day.

Halloween Smiley Cookies Rock!

2011-10-09T11:06:00.006-04:00

I was given the opportunity to try these awesome Halloween Smiley Cookies. We have actually had these for a few days, but since you are only allowed one cookie in a day, it took several days to eat them. They are still as fresh as they were when they arrived.

I am a geek for packaging, and boxes. At least when I am purchasing something. I like it to look nice and special. If you look at the last picture you will see a sweet smiley box. This is the box the smiley cookies arrived in. Wouldn't they be the cutest gift in a gift holiday basket? I think so. There are a dozen smiley cookies per package. They are sugar cookies, with festive orange frosting, and candy corn face accents. I love candy corn! It is buttery and delicious. If you need a Halloween party snack or treat, you might want to consider these cookies. If you like the Smiley Cookie Facebook page, you will get 20% off your cookie order. Special for my readers. By the way the cookie with the bite out of it did not come that way. I suspect my own special Cookie Monster, DJ managed to sneak a bite from package to table LOL!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

We Got A Volunteer Job!

2011-10-08T09:59:00.003-04:00

This pictures is borrowed from the state parks website.

Those of you who read this blog a lot, know that I have been looking for a volunteer job that both kids can do and that suits our needs. Because they are so far in age it was not easy to find one for both. Since I have limited access to the car during the week, and work weekends, I was getting a little frustrated. But patience payed off. One of the ladies in our playgroup had told me that they volunteer at the State Park Nature Reserve in Cedar Key. She asked if we would like to as well? I almost fell off my chair with excitement. The ranger has approved us, and we start Wednesday. We will go every other Wednesday, and help with the ranger's needs. Since they are young it will be stuff like picking up litter, stuffing envelopes, etc. But they will get to see wildlife, and we can go to the Gulf for lunch, which is where Cedar Key is. Since Caitlin and I only wear Crocs, I had to purchase appropriate shoes for walking along nature trails. We are excited! For those of you who are curious about lessons, you know some of you are, this will count as volunteer work as well as Science education. I am hoping we will learn a lot about the area, especially since we are not native to Florida. I am sharing a link because for those of you who live in Florida, actually I think it is for any state park, and you frequent state parks you can share your photography on their website. Be sure to check it out if interested. We signed up.

I Love Painting Class!

2011-10-06T11:00:00.005-04:00

OK I will try to explain the pictures and you might have to click to see them. My mom's goal for yesterday was to learn some basic brush steps and blending colors. You would think this is easy but no not really. This is Caitlin's samples. We are also learning pumpkins. Our next class we are actually going to paint on pumpkins. The kids want scary faces, and I will probably do a pretty pumpkin, LOL! My mom gave the kids cheaper brushes to begin with, because as she thought they had more fun mixing colors and scrunching the brushes up. Caitlin worked on what she calls worm leaves. Not sure what a worm leaf is but she was enjoying it.

This is DJ's sample papers. You can tell the difference with the cheap brush, and nice brush. He was struggling with the cheap, stiff brush, so I let him use mine. He did much better with the more expensive, flexible brush. I will be purchasing more nice brushes tomorrow for them both.

These are my samples. Again, you can see the difference from the cheap brush, to the nicer brush. I used the cheap one so DJ could have the nicer one. It is amazing the difference. I did find another nice one, and I continued with the nicer samples. We learned a lot in just one hour. My goal is by the end of the year, each of us will be able to make a perfect rose bud, like shown in the teacher's samples. She even gave us homework. Argh can you believe it! Homework! I don't even give homework. But, it is fun homework. We have to watch the basics Donna Dewberry video, at least two times before the next class, which is in two weeks. We are watching it tomorrow, and the next Friday, so no problem there.

I hope you click these, and see what I mean when I say this is what we want to learn to do. These are the teacher's samples, otherwise known as Mom and Nonie to us. This is what my mom spit out in the time it took us to load a brush, and properly blend. Man she is fast. We discussed other things we want to do. As I mentioned we are doing pumpkins the next class. Then for November we are going to do some kind of turkey project, and Christmas we are painting Snowmen on bottles as gifts. We will put lights in the bottles to accentuate the paintings. Wish us luck! I am so grateful my mom offered to be our Art teacher.

This book down here, is the book I promised to tell you about. It is an Evan Moor book called Life in the Plymouth Colony. Only Caitlin is using this, as DJ has covered this in past years and he is a little old for it. You make pockets for each set of stories in the book. It is fun and crafty while you learn. Caitlin loves it. There are others too, and I will be choosing one for next year as well.

First Day Of Painting Class

2011-10-05T07:12:00.002-04:00

My mom has mastered the Donna Dewberry painting style. She paints on everything, and is really good at it. She is our Art teacher this year, and today is our first lesson. This will repeat every other Wednesday throughout the school year. It is a one hour class. I will be sure to take pictures to record our progress. I am hoping by the end of the year, we can all master the rose, the most difficult of her techniques. This morning we have walking, and in the afternoon is History and Math. DJ is not finding the Story of the World: The Middle Ages, to be all that challenging for him. That is probably my fault, because I started the series in fifth grade. So he will be doing two chapters, or three, instead of just one. Caitlin is doing the most fun book on the Plymouth Colonies, I will share it tomorrow. I really like it. Here is two more videos in the series about the Middle Ages.

Do You Love Marshmallows?

2011-10-04T10:13:00.004-04:00

Who doesn't love marshmallows? You can toast them, make cute crafts and yummy treats with them. But now you can enjoy marshmallows in a different way. Read the E-book, Weirder Than Marshmallows, by Dan Fogg.

This book of essays is an E-book for your Kindle reader. It will be available in other formats in the future. Since I have been asked to review this book, I get to offer my readers a prize. Yes, you read it right, a prize. Anyone who purchases, Weirder Than Marshmallows, for their Kindle will get a free Scentsy Pumpkin Marshmallow Scent Circle. Details of how you can get the prize can be seen below.

If you like humor that makes fun of the stupid things other people do, then Weirder Than Marshmallows is for you. Lets face it we all do stupid things every now and then, but some do it more often than others. Things that no one should ever need to be told not to do. You know what I am talking about. Like the tag on the blow dryer that says keep away from water. Is that something we really need to be told not to do? Obviously because if someone hadn't done it, the tag wouldn't be there. Do you think someone really attempted to put a blow dryer in water, or do you think someone has a really cool job sitting around thinking up dumb things people will do with their products? I think it is the first.

These are the types of true stories told in, Weirder Than Marshmallows. I won't give too many details, because I want you to read the book for yourself. You will laugh, scratch your head, and even wonder if something you ever did belongs in this book. I am sure I could qualify for a couple. Like the time I rode on a four wheeler with no helmet, shorts on, and no shoes. Yes, I crashed and my legs looked like burnt toast. It is things like that, for which all these safety stickers, signs, and funny books are made of. So get some tissues, you will need them from laughing so hard. These are all unique essays, of really dumb things people have done. I have never heard of these, that is how new and dumb they are. It is also not too long, so you won't get tired of laughing at others. I had a good laugh at the expense of others, you can too. It can be our little secret.

Now for the really fun part. To get the really cool prize listed above, simply email your receipt of purchase to dc@nightfirepublications.com. He will take care of your free gift.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

How To Grow Pumpkins

2011-10-03T15:04:00.003-04:00

Yesterday we went down to the county building to make a scarecrow with our 4H group. The theme of ours was, We Flip for 4H. I forgot the camera because I worked all night, slept and got up to go. I wasn't exactly all there. I will try to stop down and get a shot. I did get one with the cell but I can't seem to email it to myself like I used to be able to do.

Today was Fall cleaning day. While we always clean there are times when the whole house needs a good cleaning, sorting and organizing. Today was that day. Everyone worked hard and we got a lot done. I still have more I want to do, so good thing for me I am off this weekend.

Wednesday is our first painting class with my mother. We decided since I can't seem to get to her very often, by myself, that she would teach us all to paint. We are excited!!!

Since it is now officially Fall, all throughout the season I will be sharing all kinds of fun and interesting crafts, food and anything else I find to help brighten your days. Todays video features how to grow pumpkins. Check it out. Tomorrow we are back to our regular lessons as per usual.

Scarecrows and Fall Cleaning

2011-10-01T18:44:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow we are joining our 4H group to make a scarecrow. We are doing a 60's themed scarecrow. When they are done each groups scarecrow is lined up in front of Town Hall, for everyone to see. Then people vote and the winning scarecrow wins something of which I am not sure. This is our first year doing this particular activity, and I only hope I am not so grumpy that I end up being the scarecrow stuck up on the pole. I won't get a lot of sleep after working all night. Wish me luck! Hopefully I will remember to take pictures.

Monday, Melissa's Homeschool is closed for Fall Cleaning. Yes, I mean it. This house is going to be cleaned from top to bottom. No regular lessons will be held. This should be fun. Caitlin's room alone will take half the day. Wish me luck, again!