Blog Archives

blogging through the alphabet: H is for homeschooling

11/27/2013

Ben and Me are doing a Blogging through the Alphabet Series. We are currently up to H and I, for the life of me, couldn't think of something to do for H. And then I thought, hold one...H .. home, homeschooling, helping, happiness, hard work...What of that can I write on?

Home.. well.. not sure I want to be that personal. :)

Happiness, health, hard work... that would take some time.

Homeschooling...that should be doable. :) I should be able to do it mostly in pictures.

There are times when homeschooling does not involve paper or book work. It's all hands on study and learn and discover and the crayfish we are caring for over the winter are all discovery and interest and learning. :)

Homeschooling is sometimes practical and hands on, and in this case, it's also helping to do a review so that others can learn too!

Math is hard and sometimes boys don't want to do what is hard, even if it's necessary. We're behind on math because it's HARD and a lad struggles with doing it, but he's getting it more and more. :) Science is just so much easier for him and me. :)

homeschooling is discovering new things and taking field trips and having a hoot. Mom, can I do it again? Do you think they can pull faster next time?

homeschooling is making friends and even learning new things with them. Today it's swimming.

homeschooling is something that currently we are doing.
It's sometimes HARD work, and sometimes it's just living life and learning as we go.
Homeschooling is mostly spending time with my boy and learning along side of him.
It is good.

I do wish I could get a picture of us reading.. as it's something we do alot of in this household...and then it comes out in play or conversation. Its a natural way for us to learn..... if only we could learn math through just reading eh? :)

Snakes

11/27/2013

These are my son's questions
1. What snakes live in Ontario?
2. Do people track where snakes have their winter burrows and if so, where are they?
3. Where do Ontario Snakes live?
4. How do they hibernate?
5. Are they all endangered?
6. Can any Ontario Snake be caught or even just caught, looked at and then released?

These are the resources I will use.

this verycool PDF on Ontario Snakes

and another PDF on Ontario Snakes.
here's a site with numerous pictures of Ontario reptiles

this youtube video will fascinate my boy and give him all sorts of ideas.

Here's a link to a PDF for Ontario Snakes hibernating.
Ontario snakes2013 year of the snake. "Ontario is home to 17 different snakes, which are found as far north as James Bay,"
CARCNET. Status of snakes.
The video below shows a bit of a snake den.

Homeschool Share lapbook.
kidzone learning about snakes.
refined metals academy.
snake scales.

Today Did NOT go as Planned

11/27/2013

We did manage to do our homeschooling.   I took an idea from I can Teach my Child, and did some sight word bingo with my lad.   He was totally unimpressed with me.     I am really not sure why, I thought he'd be happy about the chance to win some chocolates. I may have made it too easy for him as he was complaining that all the words I used were on his board and he does have a finely tuned sense of right and wrong.   So should I do this again, I will make it more challenging for him.

We also read from our books and did some grammar and math.   The lad worked today on writing out what numbers he saw. He found this difficult so it means a bit more practice for him. For grammar it was working on common nouns.

We started our "pick a pack". I have a whole whack of printables and information sheets that I've collected over the ages and I've put them into ziploc bags by subject, focus etc.    The goal is the lad will pick one, once a week and I'll come up with things to do with it, or meet the questions that he wants answers.

He's quite excited about the pack he picked. It's all about Snakes. :) ONTARIO snakes none-the-less and he came up with a whole host of questions for me to help him answer.

1. What snakes live in Ontario?
2. Do people track where snakes have their winter burrows and if so, where are they?
3. Where do Ontario Snakes live?
4. How do they hibernate?
5. Are they all endangered?
6. Can any Ontario Snake be caught or even just caught, looked at and then released?

So tonight I need to look up facts about snakes. :)
Particularly Ontario Snakes. :)

OH... what part of the day didn't go as planned?

This afternoon I planned to go get my hay for the season from my hay guy.   Thought I'd get some gas first. So stopped in, got my gas, the van said I DON"T THINK SO.   It didn't start, Called hubby.   He tried. NOTHING. So I sat and waited for an hour to get towed.   It was funny.   The same guy who towed us a month back gave us a tow today and he asked about the rabbits and if we managed to get out on our vacation and what was wrong with the van that time.   :)   It was just funny.

Anyways, it turned out to be well-planned by God.   The weather turned sour on us and it wouldn't have been so good for me to be out on the road.

It's a bit of a stress right now trying to figure if we can manage the fix the van AGAIN.   Finances can be a bit tight at times....but God will help us wiggle through this one as well.   It's just hard at times to remember that.

click image to go to source page.

Anyways, after getting home we needed to do something with our time today so we worked on rebuilding the toad/crayfish habitat. We wanted to put them into a bigger aquarium and move them into the basement. We picked up some pea stone and sand and set to work. Took a couple of hours to do but we got it done.

My camera is currently sitting in the van which is at the mechanics so I can't take pics of it. So below is a picture of the old set up, I'll get pics of the new set up when I have a chance to do so.

Lego Fractions and more

11/20/2013

So a friend sent me a link to this Lego Fractions page this morning. She was inspired by our lego organization. :)

click on image to go to source

And as much as the lad hated doing this homeschooling today (he has a different agenda) he found this fun and he figured it out too. :)

We also did some reading and comprehension this morning. French through French Essentials. And some work through Reading Kingdom.

We'll be making some lemon cinnamon cookies later as well so we can continue to practice our fractions and reading skills. They are a favourite household cookie so that should go over really well as the cook gets first dibs on the baking. :)

We did our normal reading as well. Today we learned a bit more about toiletry habits of the past, more about why the Roman Empire fell and the discovery of Microscopes.

Conversation Jar asked us: If you could change anything about yourself... what would it be? Why?

The lad said "I wouldn't change anything about myself". Why? "Because I think life is pretty good the way it is."

Me: "the fact that sometimes I sound like I am angry even if I am not". Why? "because it makes my boy feel feel sad". MOM.. It doesn't make me feel sad was my boy's quick response... it makes me feel like you are mad at me and I don't like that.

Results of our Fruit Fly Experiment

11/20/2013

Here's the experiment sitting before we went on holidays. This is the results post from our fruit fly experiment.

Plain vinegar attracted but ONE lonely fruit fly. Not particularly effective.

The apples floating in water attracted a few, but turned mouldy which seemed to be a turn off for the fruit flies. Captured 8.

Apple cider vinegar attracted in excess of 20 but less than 40.

Balsamic Vinegar attracted over 40 fruit flies and continues to do so. It is highly effective in attracting fruit flies.

The lad is enjoying the fruit fly explosion. It gives him flies to feed his spiders. He's also been telling a number of people to use "balsic vinegar" to catch their fruit flies if they ever have an explosion too.

Lego Organization

11/19/2013

In this house, we like Lego. This weekend we decided to take apart and put lego away. We do this on a regular basis. We build things, play with them, store them and eventually dismantle them in order to play again. :)

A while back... Last year I think, I saw a lego storage idea that immediately captured my interest. I didn't organize quite the same way that gal did, but my idea was based off hers. Sorry, can't remember who the gal was .. it was a while ago you know. :)

This is one thing I know we did differently. she put all the small tiny pieces together. I HATE hunting for specialty pieces so I repurposed some sewing/fishing tackle boxes.

Different types of lego go into different sectionals.

From left to right (facing the bins)
Stuff to be taken apart, instruction manual, knex, and those warrior bugs things
Second section has our bigger building blocks
Third section has plates/flats/castle sections, and miscellaneous big stuff.
Fourth section has figurines and their stuff, angle pieces, automotive pieces and speciality building pieces.

Like me.. the lad would happily subdivide all these categories even more if we had the space...but we don't have room to divide all the blues, blacks etc up. We have to jumble them as much as it bothers us. :) We can't separate it all.

In use pieces sit on top. Spiders, castles, vehicles and more. :) If it don't fit, too bad, so sad lad, can't keep it all up.

The lad enjoying the new found pieces again. MOM! Where did you ever find this man again? In the sort bin... so THAT's where I lost him. :)

Grandad's Pancakes

11/19/2013

This recipe comes fromall-recipes. I've tweaked it a bit for our own use though. Tweaks will show in red. :)

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Added one scoop of protein, natural

1 cup milk, at room temperature I used 1 cup kefir plus about 1/2 cup milk
1 egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons oil, or as needed (I used an oil spray in the pan)

Directions

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; make a 'well' in the center of the flour mixture. Pour milk, eggs, and 1 tablespoon oil into the well. Mix until well moistened.
Place a griddle over medium-high heat; sprinkle a few drops of water onto the griddle. If the droplets bounce, the griddle is ready; add 2 teaspoons oil.
Spoon batter onto the griddle; cook until bubbles form and the edges are dry, 3 to 5 minutes. Flip and cook until browned on the other side, 3 to 5 more minutes. Repeat with remaining batter.

We put a variety of toppings on our pancakes... from peanut butter to honey to cinnamon sugar to brown sugar. It's good to make changes and try different things. Keeps an easily locked into routine lad from getting to locked into only ONE way to have pancakes. :) He'll willing try different toppings now, but I haven't managed to get him to try fresh fruit or jam. Perhaps one day. :)

Blogging through the Alphabet: G is for Giving

11/19/2013

It's that time of year you know... folks think about giving, some think about getting (aka one 8 year old... Mom... are you really only giving me ONE present for Christmas this year???? Really mom????) and seriously we don't give expensive or large amounts of presents at Christmas in our family. But it's the whole giving/getting pull that really starts to happen this time of year.

So how does one teach the spirit of giving in the midst of the high consumerism of the season of getting and wanting and thinking one is needing?

1. We do our best not to over emphasis gifts....but more the spirit of giving.   Is that hard for an eight year old to understand?   For sure, but I figure it will come with time.

2. We don't put ourselves into debt over Christmas.   We learn what each other is wanting and hoping for, and we don't strive to meet it all, but to pick one or possibly two items, generally lower cost affordable items.

3. We don't open presents on Christmas day. Christmas Day is for the celebration of Christ's birth.

4. We find ways to be helpful during this season of "give me give me".   Lending a hand to those who need help from helping with the local aid society to singing in nursing homes.

5. We give and teach the art of being thankful throughout the year. This gives us a building block for changing the focus of this season a bit.

How do you plan to address the give me give me of the season and balance it out with giving?   What practical things do you do?

This entry will be linked with Blogging through the Alphabet with Ben and Me.

Okay, trying a new routine

11/19/2013

One thing you need to know.. I HATE ROUTINE. It makes me feel locked in with no place to go.

BUT routine also helps I find.. it helps to focus a day when you aren't feeling well.
It helps a lad to know what will happen next.
It means that sometimes it takes less time to do things because you know where you are going.
BUT I still dislike routine, so I've made a flexible one.
A goal that I can check things off, but don't have to feel bound up by. :)

To that end I've come up with this: I've since added a couple things to it, and changed it around but basically what you see I what I am working with.

Means I have less thinking to do, a checklist to keep me focused but no I HAVE TO do this or that. I hope it will work. :) Especially when I have really bad not feeling good days which I frequently have as of late.

What did we do today?

Our conversation jar turned up a difficult tongue twister this morning. Trying say this with us: Two Tried and True Tired.

We read a chapter out of Story of the World Volume Two and looked up this picture of the Roman Empire.

click image to go to image source

We read a page out of our Science Facts book. We learned abit about Leornardo DeVinci, William Harvey and Andreas Vesalius.

We read some facts out of Ripley's Believe it or Not book. Blasts from the past. Talked alot about toiletry habits of the past. The lad was very much unimpressed but it gave us a chance to talk about how different cultures have differing expectations regarding going to the bathroom.

Under protest the lad did some reading. Not sure why he's showing uncertainty about reading again. I thought we were going along fairly well at this point.

Did some math, he's becoming more confident in doing multiplication. :)

This afternoon

We have chess club, swimming and gym time with the homeschool group. Should be a good fun time this afternoon. :)

my boy is the one with the headband, needed for swimming since he has holes in his ears, due to be fixed this coming year.

getting ready to run a race...who will win...the older children or the younger? First time...the younger ones, second time the older ones. They had fun!

A Year of Reviews at an end

11/19/2013

My year of reviewing for Schoolhouse Reviews is at an end. I feel sad about this. I am waiting, hoping to be chosen to do this again next year, but I won't know until the end of the week. I have so enjoyed being part of the crews. Nice group of people to work for with clear expectations. :) 30 reviews I did if I didn't miss my count. Kept us busy.

Anyways, on the board that is part of this review process someone recently asked, what review products are you still using? I thought that would make an excellent blog post so here I am, telling you what, of all the 23-24 products I reviewed am I still using. The links will point you to my reviews for each of them. :)

We Use These Regularly

We thoroughly enjoy Reading Kingdom. It has clear expectations, the lad knows how much I expect him to accomplish. I see the results in his learning. It is so clear cut it works well for him. We did have a rough start with the program but have now hit our groove with it.

The Scaredy Cat Reading System byJoyce Herzog is also a winner for us. We don't use it all the time, but it is such a flexible program with definable goals that my son is becoming more confident with his reading. :)

Chess House. It inspired us to start our own chess club. We love it's portability and everything about it.

Bible Study Guide for all ages was a huge hit i our house. It works both for teacher and son. The lad isn't keen on the timelines, likes the geography and overall finds the format easy to use, understand and read. :) We've purchased more in the series.

French Essentials was one of the last reviews we did, we continue to use it and plan to download ALL the units as they come in. Excellent program.

Last but not least isIXL.com. We use this a couple of times a week as a let's do something that won't take long and will either tell you what you know well, or tell Mom what we need to work on. :)

We use these Sporadically

Lonestar Learning. We use this about 1-3 times per month. Gives the lad good practice with word problems. He's getting to the point where he can do it himself. :)

Essentials in Writing is s a program that I very much enjoyed and my son did to. My problem is I keep forgetting about it. :) I shouldn't do that. My goal is to finish it by the end of the year. :)

Circle Time isn't so much a program as an awareness of how having a regular start to the day is important. When we don't have our regular time, it feels like we don't get anything done in our day even though I know we do.

One I want to finish but can't

Adventus is a program I LOVED. My son loved it to. We used it regularly up til about 2 months ago when my computer needed to be rebooted I think is the correct term. Ever since then I can't get it to work again. I find it frustrating.

There were others we enjoyed

But the point of this post was to say what we are using now. :) We enjoyed Seed Sowers, Gryphon house, birdcage press and many others. But some were short term reviews and others are on-going programs. It has most definitely been an interesting year filled with lots of learning. :) I am hopeful I'll be chosen for next year as well.

OH!!! Guess what. Others thought this would be a fun idea as well and so to coincidence with the blue ribbon awards, we're doing a linky to celebrate our favourite reviews. Please do come join us as we thank our vendors! :) Join here.