Using OpenEd for Math Lessons and Turning Some of Our Favorite Nature Photos Into Awesome Gifts

Well, it has only been a week since my last post, lol.  I just don't have as much time, it seems, to blog.  I have been using OpenEd, the Math lessons, with my 6th grader, and right now it is going well.  She does the lesson, then plays a game, and watches videos.  Then we do Math flash cards, on an app, and she is finally getting division down.  I would still like her to be a little faster with her multiplication facts, but I wont quibble that.  With more practice she will get it. 

Since it was a little bit warmer today, I went out and got a lot of gardening done.  We are putting up a privacy fence, in the back yard, long story, so I had to dig up several plants.  They were successfully relocated, and I got to pick a spot for Caitlin and me to plant our 3 Sisters garden, in the Spring.  I got it dug, and added some good soil to it, and I will start composting it as well.  If you ever decide you want a privacy fence, do one panel a paycheck.  We didn't do it that way, but I wish we had.  Buying it all at once is extremely expensive. 

If you have been reading this blog, for any length of time, then you know we love to be outside.  We love nature, animals, visiting all our local parks and zoos.  Though, we have by no means visited them all, it takes a while, lol.  We also love to take pictures of all the beautiful, and fun things we see, and find.  Some of you might even recognize this picture.  The male lion, who let us take his picture several times.  Now, you can purchase some of our favorite, and best photographs, by shopping at my new Society6 Art store.  You will also find my paintings.  You can buy prints, canvas, or lovely gifts.  So far, along with this lion, I have uploaded flowers, manatees, deer, dolphins, springs, and other beautiful pictures from our travels around Florida.  I do not have all of them loaded, yet.  It takes quite a long time to edit and load them.  Plus, I have to find them in all my storage places.  We have been doing this for 9 years after all.  These make great, quality gifts.  You can also just click the Society6 banner, at the top corner of this blog.

Perigee Full Moon

I must admit, before I began to homeschool my kids there were a lot of cool things that I never payed much attention to. The Perigee Full Moon, also known as the Super Moon, only occurs about every 18 years. It is closer to the earth so it appears larger and brighter than other full moons. The two shots above were take one the night of the Perigee Moon, and the other at the beginning of Dawn the next day. I take our puppy out very early so I got the shot as the moon was just going behind the trees. Because DJ and I are still learning to use the digital camera at night, we were unsure of the setting to use. You can see the difference after I got to play with it in the morning. This is just a note to me, and will mean nothing to my readers. For night time pictures, the flower must be off, and the lightning bolt must be enclosed in the oval, to get the best shots. For those of you who want to be photo enthusiasts, don't throw away your instruction books, as I did 7 years ago when I received the camera as a gift. It takes wonderful pictures, but it helps if you know what all the settings are ahead of time. Anyway the video below is wonderfully educational, please share it with yourself and your children.

Oh for those of you who read my blog regularly, DJ took 2nd place for his sea lion photo, this past Saturday in 4H fair. Caitlin got a Cloverbud ribbon. The first place ribbon went to a beautiful rabbit picture.

Fun With Photography

DJ has been practicing his photography skills. He got a kids digital camera for Xmas, and he has been practicing with light, and angles, to get a better shot. These are some of the things he has taken pictures of in our big back yard. His sister, I took, he his holding the shovel with the deadly crocodile, ha ha just kidding, it is just a little lizard. The big white flowers are magnolias from our magnolia tree. Tomorrow is our last test day of the year, and then three 1/2 days next week, then 3rd grade, is over.

Practicing OPhotography Skills

Those of you that follow my blog, know that I make my own jewelry. Of course that would entail taking photos of said jewelry. It is something I have been practicing for years. What you may not know, is that I love taking pictures, they are the memories of our lives. My children have also taken up this hobby. DJ, my son, got a kids digital camera for Christmas. It was more of an investment thing, than an educational thing. He would buy those disposable cameras and then of course you had to have them developed, which no offense to him were more often than not, not very good. So this way, they can be downloaded to the computer, and deleted if not any good. DJ, and his 4 yr old sister have been having a ball taking pictures since Christmas, and they are fast learners. They are learning about good lighting, esp since the camera has no flash, up close vs far away shots, posing, outfits, etc. It was not my intention for it to be so educational, but they have decided to make it so. The first dark pic shown is the one my 4 yr old took of her brother. Not bad for her first shot. The two of her, were taken by DJ. It took him several tries to get the fish tank to show up in the picture, but he was happy with the end result. As for me, well I must be more of a slow learner LOL. The remaining pictures are my attempts to take shots of the full moon, on two separate evenings. The darker night picture one is far, and the other I finally figured out how to do a zoom shot, and you can definitely note the difference. The lighter one was when the full moon was just coming up. I was kind of disappointed, I used the zoom and it still did not look nearly as beautiful as it actually was. I will continue to practice, and encourage my children to practice as well.

Lesson Plans for 1/14/09:

Reading: Read chapter 4 of Dolphins at Daybreak
Language Arts: adverb and adjective review, capitalization
Math: Multiplication, division, numbers in order
Writing: You can have only one food x 1 wk, what would it be and why
Fire drill week: Discuss alternate exits, and safe meeting places
Social Studies: The continents, MLK Jr
Spelling: Write each spelling word and circle the consonants
Vocabulary: Write a synonym for each vocabulary word

Frugal Tip Save Money On Pictures

I have been called cheap, at times in my life. I prefer frugal, but cheap is probably closer to the truth. My children are 8 and 4, and for the past 8 years we have been visiting Walmart, Pennies, or other photo studios for Holiday pictures. This on average has cost, anywhere from 150 dollars to a whopping 300 dollars. Ouch that would really hurt my budget, this year. So I decided to take my own pictures. I think I did a good job, for someone who is not a photographer. We then use Snapfish photo service, to make prints, 8x10 photos, and 7x5 photos to send to family and friends this holiday season. We did this for our yearly digital photo printing, and it cost a whole 45 dollars. I would say that is a substantial savings. I am sure there are other online photo services, we just happen to use Snapfish. If you have a digital camera, give it a try, and save yourself some money, this Holiday season.





I will be making the pumpkin shaped cake today. The recipe is in my archives, and I will let you know how it comes out.

DJ's Report Card for the 1st Quarter:

Language Arts: 94
Reading: Excellent
Reading Comp: 96
Writing: Satisfactory, and Improving
Math: 90
Science: 97
Health: 100
Social Studies: 89
Spanish: Satisfactory
Art: Excellent

Lesson Plans for 10/23/08:

Health: Soaperman, keeping clean and healthy
Writing: Write a list of safety rules for Trick or Treating
Language Arts: Phonics review, guide words
Reading: Read chapter 8 of Mummies in the Morning
Spanish: Parts of the body
PE: 30 minutes
Vocabulary: Lesson 8- write each definition 2 times each
Spelling: Lesson 8- Put your spelling words in alphabetical order
Math: Division, multiplication, addition, and subtraction

Contest: Win 10 Dollars, And A 30 Day Text Advertising Link

I am trying to figure out, how to make this a sticky post. Ok I have upped the anty a little bit, and added some cash to the prize. The winner will receive 10 dollars cash, via Paypal, plus a free 90 day text link advertising. You must have a valid paypal address to participate, as that is how the 10 dollars will be paid. The contest starts at midnight, tonight, and goes until Oct 29th. Because this is a Homeschool Blog, I wanted it to be a little towards education, but wanted everyone to be able to enter, so here are the rules:

1- I wanted to have everyone enter, a Fall related drawing, painting, or picture they photographed, but then I realized not everyone might have pictures on their computer, so IF you do enter a picture, drawing, or painting, you will get 2 entries into the contest. The picture must be emailed to darien04@gmail.com to be added to the blog. Please make sure you include your name, website, or blog, so I can keep track of how many entries you receive. Please only one picture per entry. It can be a drawing or painting, that your child did, or a Fall related photograph, please be sure it is your picture, and not just taken from the web. Please remember all pictures will be added in posts, on this blog.

2- If you leave a comment, on this post, or any post, you will receive 1 entry. Please be sure it is a relevant comment, to the subject of the post, or it will not be counted. If you comment every day, you will have an entry, every day.

3- If you Buzz up, this article, or any article, you will receive 1 entry. After you Buzz up the story you must either come back, and comment, or email me that you did so. You can do this every day, on the daily post, and get an entry every day.

4- If you blog about this contest, on your blog, or website, you will get 1 entry. Be sure to either email me, so I can verify the info, and receive your info, for tracking.

5- If you sign up to follow, my blog, that is 1 entry, or if you join my RSS feed, that is also 1 entry.

There is no age limit, for this contest, and no country limit. Please remember, you must have a valid Paypal account, to be able to receive the 10 dollars cash. Good luck to everyone, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me at darien04@gmail.com

Making A Homeschool Yearbook

My son, DJ, who is 8, will be entering 3rd grade in September. This is our second year homeschooling, and he had a good idea. He is very much into drawing, and has just discovered photography. He had an idea, to take pictures, and drawings, save tehm for the whole year, and then make his own yearbook, of him and his sisters adventures. This should be interesting, and I personally cant wait to see the outcome of his hard work. We will start the project once school, has officially started.