Showing posts with label homeschool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschool. Show all posts

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Children's Museum and Other Fun Stuff

Last week we had the opportunity of visiting the Children's Museum in Stockton. It was a bit of a drive, but so much fun!

They had several simulations of real-life professions. Here are the girls at the "sandwich shop."
Kaitlyn really liked ringing the bell on this diagram of a cow. I learned that on a farm, they feed baby cows small magnets to keep any scrap metal that is accidentally ingested from entering their intestines.
Kaitlyn loading her basket up with produce- guess she's learned a thing or two from all those trips with me down to the farmer's market!
...and shopping for dry goods...
Here's Ashlee checking her out. The kids really liked the grocery scanner.
Rachel's turn to make a sandwich!
This was the front half of a real helicopter, complete with lights and sounds.
Jacob said he "may" be a police officer when he grows up =)
The free face-painting station was a hit.
I had put a butterfly on Kaitlyn's cheek, but she wiped it off in favor of one of Katie's full-face creations.

It turned out nice, don't you think?
Jacob was in heaven when he discovered this Lego table.
It had better be the only time I see this girl in the back of a police car!!
After a couple hours of playing we discovered this nice outdoor play yard where we could eat our lunch. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. The kids had fun playing on the playground and meeting other kids. Here are the girls being "butterflies and angels" on their way back into the museum.
After lunch we ventured into the art room, where they had tons of art supplies and craft tables for the kids. This was our last activity as we were winding down. This was a great homeschool field trip!
This week Anthony discovered finger puffs... and loves them! Would we expect anything less?
Some of them kind of dribble down his chin, but he still gets the flavor.
I am absolutely loving this time with two babies. I think Rachel is discovering that Anthony is blossoming into a fun playmate!
We were given one of these fun Flinstones cars the other day, and my kids have been having a blast with it.
Rachel pretty much claimed it as hers from the get-go. She was hilarious and would scream when anyone tried to touch it or come near it on the first day.
The kids have been spending LOTS of time up in the field (a.k.a. mud) collecting things and making a mess. The other day they came in the house with 2 snakes, a frog, and a lizard. I thought it was cute that they each had their own "pet."
Yes, they are definitely enjoying spring. Sometimes my inner voice wants to shout, "Get out of the mud!" But, I'd much rather have them playing in mud than inside playing video games. Dirt is healthy for kids.
Ashlee's obsession this past week has been The Hunger Games. I took her to see it on Friday night, and here she is with her Katniss braid. She also made herself a tee-shirt with the Mockingjay logo on it.
Mmmmm... a pear and goat cheese pizza I made the other night... one for me and one for a friend!
Kaitlyn being a sweet girl with the marble run. She thought I was taking a video so she kept doing these silly faces.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

New Curriculum!

Our new curriculum arrived on Friday, and as always, I'm tickled!! I had heard about a new place called Lakeshore Learning from a couple of friends who recommended it for their "hands-on" items. One of the things we ordered was this ladybug house; our live ladybug larvae are on their way! I am really looking forward to doing this one with the kids.
I also had the brilliant idea to order book bins for the many wonderful books that, until now, have been hiding on our shelf unread. I find this is a much more functional way of displaying the books and getting use out of them. It has the feel of a personal homeschool library right in our dining room!
For geography, we ordered this United States floor puzzle. Jacob and I had fun putting it together, and it reminded me of the old days (when I had fewer kids) and we used to sit down and do his rainforest floor puzzle all the time. I had fun quizzing him afterwards.
And, thanks to Naomi's suggestion, to go along with math we now have a play cash register! We spent a good couple of hours playing store, buying "merchandise" from around the house, and making change. I can honestly say this was the most enjoyable school day we've had in a long time.
These guys are happy to have some new toys too. =)

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Happiness

The freedom of homeschooling, new sod in the backyard, and sunny 70 degree weather equals a recipe for happiness. That is what I saw in my kids today. On days like this I can't even bring myself to pull them in for school work... so we consider it P.E.

Nevermind the mattress perched on the picnic table; adventures in night time potty training (did you know sunshine is the best antibacterial?) And as you can see by the blue streak on Rachel's nose, they've been enjoying some face paint. Shall we call it art?




Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Valentine's Day Homeschool Party

I never thought I'd see the day when there would be enough homeschoolers in our area to constitute a party, but today we did and it was marvelous! I felt so privileged to host a valentine's day party at our house which yielded a wonderful turnout of about 40 people. It was like having an entire classroom in my living room! We were blessed with beautiful weather and the kids spent the majority of the time outdoors.

These were the kids' homemade valentines; thank you Martha Stewart and Pinterest!

Katie remedying the situation of one-too-many kids on the trampoline.
This was a good system of distributing valentines. Kind of reminds me of the classroom days when we would walk around to each of the desks!


Nikki and baby Tempe:
Naomi and David:
Katie and Michael:





Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Hope yours was filled with love.