Boulter Homeschool

Bleriot Flyer

2011-06-10T17:29:00.002-04:00

Untitled, a photo by goodgollycr on Flickr.

We visited Washington DC a few weeks ago and got to visit the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Inside there is an exhibit of the Bleriot Flyer that we read about when we rowed The Glorious Flight.

Lighthouse Field Trip

2011-02-25T20:27:00.002-05:00

As we row Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge this week I thought it was time to post some pictures to the St. Augustine Lighthouse. It's been a year since we visited!

Ornament Exchange 2010

2011-01-04T19:13:00.003-05:00

These are the ornaments we received from our fellow 'rowers'. We had fun looking for them to come in the mail. Thank you!

Harry and his Lapbook

2011-01-04T19:09:00.002-05:00

Nathan received a new pet for Christmas. A hedgehog! He has been a lot of fun to observe. When feeling threatened he hisses and sounds a lot like a snake. Not to mention, his spines are quite prickly!

I didn't have any books on Hedgehogs, so we made our own using the free lapbook at Homeschool Share.

Hanna's Cold Winter

2010-12-23T19:53:00.000-05:00

To finish up with our week of Hanna's Cold Winter we had an art day. The boys drew their Hippos using the Draw Right Now book and then used watercolors to paint it.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Lunar Eclipse

2010-12-23T19:47:00.000-05:00

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

We had a spectacular view of the eclipse from our front yard!

Annual Ornament Exchange

2010-12-23T19:38:00.001-05:00

This is our third year exchanging ornaments with other FIAR moms and kids. I know I enjoy it as much as the boys do. Well, maybe even a little more. :o)

This year the boys selected Harold and the Purple Crayon for our book on which to base our ornament. We made a very simple crayon using purple cardstock.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

A Jesse Advent Celebration - free Advent book

2010-12-07T08:32:00.001-05:00

I just came across this and am excited about using it! I thought I would pass on the word here. Follow the link for your free study. You do need to sign up for an email list, but you can unsubscribe at any time.

A Holy Experience

You can also see what Kendra has done with the study here. She has made some beautiful ornaments! (Mine will be of the paper variety, I'm sure)

Taller de Tortillas

2010-11-14T08:13:00.003-05:00

On the same day as the Shoe Factory, we learned how to make tortillas.

Shoe Factory

2010-11-14T08:12:00.002-05:00

We recently took a field trip with our Spanish teacher. Her family owns and operates a shoe factory here in Costa Rica. She admitted that it would be more cost effective to import shoes made elsewhere, but they keep the factory going in the memory and tradition of her father.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Knights Lapbook

2010-04-11T14:12:00.004-04:00

The boys loved diving into the Middle Ages as we rowed The Duchess Bakes a Cake. It could have gone on for much longer, but we decided to focus on Knights. Here are some pictures of their Knight Lapbooks:

You can find the Knight Lapbook for free at HSS.

Books we read:

Tale of Peter Rabbit - Fun Stuff

2010-03-19T12:50:00.001-04:00

Seth really enjoyed this book:

...and we all enjoyed this movie:

Bean Seeds - Tale of Peter Rabbit

2010-03-19T12:40:00.002-04:00

After rowing Peter Rabbit we planted several beans. Later we dug them up on different days to see the different stages. (Before we went out of town and they all dried up.)

Click on the picture to see more.

Make Way for Ducklings

2010-03-19T12:35:00.003-04:00

Now that I have two teenagers, it is easy to forget to do little things like visit a duck pond. The two younger boys really enjoyed it, though.

I'm not sure if this is a true mallard, all the way down in Costa Rica, but it sure looks pretty close.

Click on the picture to see more of our visit.

Miss Rumphius - Parts of a Flower

2010-03-19T11:54:00.003-04:00

As part of our week with Miss Rumphius we read From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons. I also had a flower that we were able to examine closely.

You Wouldn't Want to...

2010-03-19T11:34:00.001-04:00

Seth has really been enjoying this series of books. It covers some of the less pleasant aspects of history in a cartoon-y way.

Nathan's Drawing Dreams Donation

2010-03-14T23:29:00.002-04:00

Last week I was contacted on Flickr with a request to use Nathan's art for the Drawing Dreams Foundation. Today they wrote to tell me that Nathan's art will be featured on the home page for a couple weeks! Above is a screen shot. :o)

Pet Hermit Crabs

2010-02-21T11:29:00.003-05:00

I was finally able to see one of our hermit crabs change shells and was able to capture it on camera.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

We brought these crabs home from Manuel Antonio and the boys have really enjoyed them!

Nathan's Reading List, 2009

2010-01-01T15:24:00.001-05:00

I was so proud of Nathan as this year really seemed to be a break through with his reading. He is now working his way through the Magic Tree House series on his own. I am thankful for this level of reading book for him.

Seth's Reading List, 2009

2010-01-01T15:20:00.003-05:00

I was proud of Seth as we graduated to chapter books for independent reading this year.

Read Aloud List 2009

2009-12-31T14:59:00.001-05:00

Ornaments Received 2009

2009-12-26T16:41:00.002-05:00

Ornaments Received 2009
Originally uploaded by goodgollycr

These are the ornaments we received from the Five in a Row ornament exchange. It was so much fun to see what the other FIAR moms and their children created!

Ferdinand Cork Tree Christmas Ornaments

2009-12-26T16:31:00.003-05:00

This was our second year participating in the Five in a Row Ornament Exchange. We decided to make Cork Tree ornaments to represent The Story of Ferdinand.

Seth drilling the holes...

We used earring posts to thread the corks...

Felt leaves and a little bit of wire to tie it all together...

I was pleased with how they turned out.

Cork Boats

2009-10-22T23:16:00.004-04:00

This idea was suggested in the archives over at the FIAR Message Boards. I handed the boys some toothpicks and corks and let them create. They stayed busy for a couple for hours! At first Nathan thought it was going to be too easy. Then he realized that there needed to be balance and the wheels started turning. They also discovered that they could sink each other's boats by wetting the sail. A wet sail was then heavy enough that it would tip over.

Nothing fancy, nothing genius. Just fun!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Artist Study - Rousseau

2009-10-09T22:20:00.003-04:00

Nathan - age 10

Seth - age 8

project idea inspired by Art for Kids.

A fun, online Jungle Interactive game, inspired by Rousseau.

Since we do not have access to an English library I was thrilled to find some examples of Rousseau's Jungle art in books that I already owned. These are the books I pulled from my shelf and was able to use:

SpellQuizzer - A Review

2009-10-08T18:33:00.008-04:00

I have never been able to successfully implement a spelling program in our homeschool. I have tried several different programs but, quite honestly, did not take the time they required to be consistent with them. If we were going to spend time together I would much rather use it doing history or reading together, not running through a spelling list.

My latest spelling failure was Sequential Spelling. After reading up on it, I love the organization and the principles behind it. I really wanted this one to work for us. But once again, I was unable to put in the time to implement it. Until now...

I was recently approached and asked to try SpellQuizzer. SpellQuizzer is a computer program that reads the word to the student and the student types in the correct spelling. If the spelling is incorrect, the correct spelling is flashed on the screen and they are given another opportunity to spell it correctly at the end of the quiz. Read more here from the website.

It is not designed to go with one spelling curriculum, but can be used with ANY spelling list or program. It can even be used alone as there are spelling lists available on the website. Because you can record your own spelling lists easily, any student can use it.

This is how I am using it: I have the Sequential Spelling books 1 & 2. It was very easy for me to go through and add in my own spelling list with my own voice recording the word. I can even make the lists personal and throw in inside family jokes and family names.

My 13yo son then goes in daily and selects that day's list and listens to his words and types in the answer. It is that easy. He can now do his spelling without waiting for me. I can set up the month's spelling lists late at night or whenever I have time to do it. The best part is that the lists are saved for my other two boys to use when they are ready.

One thing I would like to see in the future would be a partnership with Sequential Spelling that would allow me to buy their word lists along with pre-recorded sentences and cues.

Some variations on using the program:
Vocabulary lists: record the definition and your student will enter in the vocabulary word.
Quizzes for other subjects: record your questions and the answer can be used in place of the spelling word. (idea from Lisa)

I see this as really being a valuable tool for my family and am thrilled that we were introduced to it! You can check out the Free trial HERE.

Rainforest

2009-10-03T09:22:00.004-04:00

We have truly been so blessed to live near the rainforest. We find it so fascinating and revisit the topic often. We are finally doing a rainforest lapbook that will be a culmination of our learning from many different family field trips and books read.

Here are some of the 'rainforest-y' pictures I've taken over the last few years:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Volcano Lapbook

2009-09-27T12:36:00.002-04:00

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Free lapbook templates found here.
I also pulled a couple of mini-books from this unit.

And don't miss our Volcano model with which we finished off the week!

Books we read this week:

Volcano Model

2009-09-24T23:23:00.006-04:00

We've been reading about Volcanoes this week. We finished up our study with a model of a volcano. The boys really had fun with this and it 'erupted' several times (until I started to run out of vinegar). The first time I measured carefully, but after that we used about 3 spoonfuls and a little bowl full of vinegar. The first time we used red food coloring, but after that Seth wanted to experiment.

They also wanted to add lego men to the scene and eventually wanted to see if the volcano would 'blow' with enough force to shoot one out of the top. It didn't, but they had fun watching.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Climbing Kansas Mountains - Salt Dough Maps

2009-08-23T14:59:00.001-04:00

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

We followed Jimmie's instructions and used her free flag templates. You can find them here.

Climbing Kansas Mountains - Art Lesson

2009-08-07T07:38:00.006-04:00

Seth explored using chalk on textured paper. I didn't have any darker paper, so we just used watercolor paper.

The boys also had fun exploring oil pastels as they copied the sunflower from the back of our book, Climbing Kansas Mountains.

Seth's Sunflower:
Nathan's Sunflower:

and mom's:

Salamander Room - Classification Lapbook

2009-08-05T14:22:00.000-04:00

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
For the cover, I just copied clipart into a Publisher document and printed on sticker paper. The boys peppered the stickers throughout their books and onto the cover.

Books we read:

Salamander Room - Science Experiment

2009-08-01T14:12:00.000-04:00

We duplicated this experiment taken from Bill Nye the Science Guy.

This is meant to illustrate how amphibians can breathe through their skin.

It took us several attempts, be we finally had results.

Bee Tree Baking

2009-07-23T13:58:00.000-04:00

We really enjoy pulling out the Five in a Row Cookbook for a little extra yummy fun.

Bee Tree - Lapbook

2009-07-07T12:55:00.000-04:00

You can find this FREE lapbook here.

Other resources we used:

Snake Lapbook

2009-04-21T10:09:00.002-04:00

Final pictures of our snake unit. We found a great snake place to go to, read lots and put together this lapbook from HSS.

Books we read:

Crocheted Hat

2009-04-12T16:04:00.001-04:00

Alix and the hat she just made. :o)

2009 Blast Contest

2009-04-11T17:55:00.005-04:00

It is time for the 2009 Homeschool Share Blast Contest!

Homeschool Share is a wonderful collaboration of many homeschool mom's putting their heads together and creating unit studies and lapbooks galore. If you are looking for great lapbooks, this is the best place to start looking. And the best part? They are all Free!

If you have ever wanted to try your hand at writing a literature based unit study, or creating a lapbook now is the time. Look here to see the guidelines and great prizes that are being offered this year!

Chinese Dinner

2009-03-29T03:04:00.002-04:00

As Christopher finished up his time with The Cricket in Times Square, he requested we have a Chinese dinner (a regular favorite at our house). However, instead of the usual Hot and Sour soup that dad makes, we followed the recipe in the manual for Won-Ton soup. It was delicious! It tasted just like it does in a Chinese Restaurant!

Inauguration

2009-01-22T09:37:00.001-05:00

Inauguration Fold n Learn from Five in a Row

Oath of Office Copywork Page

And don't miss these Obama Notebooking Pages - Free for a limited time at NotebookingPages.com

Election Lapbook

2009-01-22T08:53:00.001-05:00

Homeschool Share Election Unit

Inauguration Day

2009-01-17T11:17:00.004-05:00

We will finally finish up our Election study this week with Inauguration Day. Here is what we will be using:

Five in a Row Inauguration Day Fold-n-Learn - only $7

Free! Oath of Office Copywork Pages

Inauguration Past, Present, and Future on Flickr

Guatemala

2009-01-16T19:36:00.001-05:00

We read Abuela's Weave in preparation for our trip to Guatemala. It came to mind often as we walked the streets and saw the beautiful colored fabrics.

Wee Gillis

2009-01-15T20:28:00.001-05:00

We had a lot of fun with Wee Gillis!

My Heart is in the Highlands copywork page:
cursive / print
Homeschool Share Lapbook Resources

Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car

2009-01-15T03:08:00.000-05:00

Homeschool Share Lapbook Printables

Down Down the Mountain

2009-01-15T03:05:00.000-05:00

Homeschool Share Printable Resources
Copywork Page
Our chapter read aloud: Blue Ridge Billy by Lois Lenski

Christopher's Independent Reads - 2009

2009-01-01T21:03:00.000-05:00

Books Read Together 2008

2009-01-01T14:30:00.000-05:00

Ornament Exchange Pt. 2

2008-12-19T09:34:00.002-05:00

These are the ones we have received so far. I need to go check the PO box as I am sure there are more waiting.

Seth has especially enjoyed the ornaments. He rearranged the tree several times before getting it just right.

Ornament Exchange

2008-12-03T01:22:00.001-05:00

We made snowflakes for our Five in a Row Christmas ornament exchange. I went simple and used a kit.

Seth and Grandma made a great team. :o)

I had each child name a favorite book from Vol. 1 (which we covered last year) that had snow. We attached labels to the snowflakes naming the child and his choice of book.

I can't wait to see the different ornaments that will come to us in the mail!

Cotton Fields

2008-12-03T00:23:00.003-05:00

We were able to see some beautiful Georgia cotton fields up close. It reminded us Eli Whitney and the invention of the cotton gin.

The plants were also prickly. We imagined how hard it would have been for slaves to be picking and seeding the cotton before they were freed.

Mining

2008-12-02T23:34:00.001-05:00

Seth had been so fascinated by the Gold Rush we read about in history that I made sure to take him mining. While we were in North Carolina we went to the Elijah Mountain Gem Mine.

Apple Picking

2008-12-02T23:18:00.003-05:00

We took advantage of being in North Carolina in the fall and went apple picking at Skytop Orchard. The kids really enjoyed it, though it was really cold! (Ok, at least by Costa Rica standards)

Enjoying the fruits of their labor!

Sugar Cane!

2008-10-07T02:06:00.003-04:00

You can find these trucks at the market where the cane is squeezed right in front of you.

The boys were able to taste sugar cane juice this weekend. They all liked it, but Nathan especially.

Little Bear

2008-09-29T23:48:00.005-04:00

Seth is really enjoying reading Little Bear. Sadly, I don't think I ever read these aloud to him, but he is now enjoying reading them himself.

I am also trying to work in more copywork this year and he is enjoying working on these pages as he is working through the Little Bear books.

I am pleasantly surprised that my rough-housing, video-game-loving boy can still enjoy these childhood favorites!

Three Names

2008-09-28T20:22:00.001-04:00

Some weeks we pretty much stick to the lessons in the Five in a Row manual and don't write much down. This was one of those weeks. :o)

Simile and Hyperbole MiniBooks

Draw Write Now

2008-09-28T19:28:00.001-04:00

This year I want to incorporate more copywork into our school. For beginners, I really like Draw Write Now and thanks to PaperbackSwap, I finally have a complete set. Homeschool Share has a list that connects the Draw Write Now books with our Five in a Row book of the week.

I have begun using it in a few different ways.

Sometimes (especially for Seth) we use it exactly how it is written up. He draws the picture and copies what was written.

Recently I noticed that Seth really needed help with his letter formation. I made up a page for him (using the handwriting tips from donnayoung.org):

Sometimes, they will copy a short passage out of our Five in a Row book for the week:

Again, I gave Seth a little extra help. He tends to copy letters exactly as they appear and I don't really want him writing his a's like 'a'. So I typed his out for him:

And finally, for Christopher, I have been letting him write his own little stories. They are short (they fit on the one page) and I don't always go back and correct his spelling. The picture is his inspiration and I just want him to enjoy the creative writing process without a lot of red tape:

They all three enjoy drawing. And while Christopher has gone past stick people, Nathan and Seth have not. This may just look like a simple elementary handwriting program, but it helps them pay attention to detail and see the steps of a drawing. I think it will be useful to us for a few years, yet.

Harold and the Purple Crayon

2008-09-28T19:13:00.002-04:00

Books we read:

Our notebook pages:

Seth's Notebook. We made a layered book to show the phases of the moon.

Nathan's Notebook

Much of our focus was on the moon this week. Christopher wrote up a little biography on Neil Armstrong.

Internet activities:

Explore the Moon with NOVA

Watch the Phases of the Moon:

Horses

2008-09-27T21:34:00.001-04:00

Books we read:

Nathan requested we do a horse lapbook. I pulled together elements from a few different studies on Homeschool Share.

We had pictures from Seth and Nathan riding a horse last spring, so I let them choose and made their covers.

Mini books opened up:

My first attempt at a Flag Book. I'm not so sure I did it correctly.

There are some Five in a Row books coming up with horses. I'm sure the boys will be pulling these out to review when we cover them.

Election Time

2008-09-13T11:45:00.000-04:00

Unit Study options for the Election:

Notebook Learning's FREE Election Lapbook

HomeschoolShare's FREE Election Lapbook

Amanda Bennett Elections Unit Study

Adding one more option. Thank you Shannon for sharing the link to your Presidential Unit Study. It looks great!

Notebooking Pages we are using along with the AB study:
Presidential Pages

Patriotic Pages

Alix is doing the Amanda Bennett study. I am still trying to decide which of the the others to use for the boys. Christopher may end up doing the lower level of the Amanda Bennett.

Postcard Exchange Part II

2008-08-13T18:42:00.000-04:00

After receiving our postcards from all over the US, we mapped them and hung them on the wall. I thought we might have to divide it up into 2 sessions, but the boys were into it the whole time. We read each card, looked for it on the map, then wrote in in on our map. We then used tally marks for the ones where we received more than one. We received the most from Colorado (4!).

Who Owns the Sun?

2008-08-06T19:25:00.000-04:00

Other books we read this week:

Video on how the sun affects the seasons:

Links:

Homeschool Share

Interactive Site on Simple Machines

Watercolor Tutorials

Night of the Moonjellies

2008-08-06T18:31:00.000-04:00

We spent a few days at the beach and that was the perfect time to begin our week of Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha.

It was really fun and rewarding as we searched for sea glass for the first time. I made a couple of little boxes for the boys to keep their treasures in, just like in the story.

Their Notebook Pages, including menus:

Their artwork. We used oil pastels.

Then we finished off the week with some cheeseburgers and onion rings!

Links:

Homeschool Share

Draw Write Now connections

Free Lined Notebooking Pages

Ctenophores

Mark Shasha's Website

New Pets

2008-07-22T23:21:00.000-04:00

Dad brough these two guys home from his last trip to Jacó. It was a nice wrap up to our Frog Study. Aside from now actually trying to attract fruit flies, these are our easiest pets to keep.

Simple Machines Scavenger Hunt

2008-07-19T11:11:00.000-04:00

After reading about simple machines this week (Who Owns the Sun?), I handed the boys my camera and set them loose in the neighborhood in hunt of simple machines. This is what they found:

Postcard Exchange

2008-07-08T16:13:00.000-04:00

We participated in a post card exchange with some online friends. Writing out almost 50 postcards was quite an event!

The Alajuelita Post Office

(oficina de correos)

Waiting for ours to arrive!

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World

2008-07-08T16:02:00.000-04:00

Why Notebook?

2008-07-02T17:06:00.000-04:00

Because you never know when they might want to pull that notebook off the shelf for a little self-review.

Frogs

2008-06-18T12:07:00.001-04:00

Books we read:

Links:
Free Frog Lapbook by HomeschoolShare
Additional Frog Clipart and Pictures (like the ones I used on the back cover)

Reader Recommendation

2008-06-18T11:17:00.000-04:00

My reluctant reader has been enjoying these. His older brother even volunteers to listen in for me. The stories are fun and lighthearted, with just the right amount of humor. Highly recommended.

Cotton Gin

2008-04-27T17:21:00.001-04:00

This is the Cotton Gin the boys made the week we 'rowed' The Rag Coat. The instructions came from our Story of the World Vol. 3 Activity book.

Glorious Flight

2008-03-11T19:58:00.001-04:00

Other books on the schedule this week:

A 'Bleriot' in flight. Imagine crossing the English Channel in this!

Other fun links:
More information on Louis Bleriot

Wright Brothers Story in Pictures (slide show with audio narration)

How Planes Fly (note that there are three pages)

Printable Paper Plane Model

Homeschool Share for notebook/lapbook ideas.

Inventor Notebooking Pages

Australia

2008-03-10T15:02:00.000-04:00

Our studies of James Cook took us to Australia today. We read Look What Came from Australia by Kevin Davis. Afterwards I looked up some fun things on YouTube.

Grandfather's Journey

2008-03-04T23:36:00.000-05:00

Some extra books we read:

Shipwrecked is about a Japanese fisherman who is shipwrecked, travels to the US, then is very influential in the opening of Japan to western ideas and trade, after being closed to all outside influences for 200 years.

Mieko and the Fifth Treasure takes place in Japan shortly after the atom bomb is dropped.
Geography A to Z was a comprehensive guide to all kinds of land forms and bodies of water.
Great Events That Changed the World has a two page spread on WWII. It gives a great overview, including the bomb dropped on Japan.

Minit books from HomeSchool Share. We did some science pages from The Giant Science Resource Book.

We did the Draw Write Now bird picture and origami from Enchanted Learning. (The whale went nicely with our Shipwrecked read-aloud as some of the story took place on a whaling ship.)

We did a picture study using this Picture Study Notebook Page. Then the boys did an interpretation of 'The Great Wave' .

Art Links:
36 Views of Mt. Fuji
The Great Wave
Art Activity (we didn't do this, I disovered it after we painted)

President book

2008-02-29T01:32:00.000-05:00

Supplemental books we read:

As we work through Story of the World, Vol. 3, it was recommended to make President cards. I printed up these cards, then had them bound into little books (about $.50 each here).

I also made up these extra cards. The answers were found in SOTW Vol. 3 Activity Guide and Don't Know Much About Presidents by Ken Davis.

You could use them...

for a younger student, who may not be up to writing out 3 facts for each president.
as quiz cards.
the portraits for timeline figures.

Another Celebrated Dancing Bear

2008-02-29T01:00:00.000-05:00

Our art work:

Chris

Nathan

Seth

We did a fun experiement while we discussed boiling water. The beans represent the molecules. The higher the temperature gets, the more they move around. Seth shook the jar gently at first, then with more force. The result was beans flying out of the jar, representing steam.

Notebook pages:

Minit books from Homeschool Share, along with the Draw Write Now connection.

We measured freezing point, boiling point, and body temerature on a thermometer.
(printable from Teacher Resource Center).

Butterfly Lessons

2008-02-29T00:21:00.000-05:00

Recently we went to a Butterfly Garden. We have been to a few over the last few months. I took this opportunity to put together a Lapbook.

Ami, over at HomeschoolShare, helped with the final product, so the Butterfly Lapbook at HSS is the new and improved version. Using the great ideas Ami added, I plan to add more pages to our books after our next butterfly garden visit.

Books we read:

Valentine Exchange

2008-02-12T18:43:00.001-05:00

A big 'Thank You' to our FIAR friends who sent Valentines!

We are really enjoying them!

Very Last First Time

2008-02-08T21:05:00.000-05:00

Other books we read this week:

Stone Fox was a huge hit. By reading 2 chapters a day, we easily covered it in one week. The boys loved it. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. This mama cried at the end.

Mama, Do You Love Me? has great information in the back on the Inuit culture.

We enjoyed looking at landscape pictures in the Come, Look With Me and discussing warm and cool colors.

I put a bowl of water in the freezer, just long enough for the top to freeze over. Then we chipped a hole in the top and 'Lego man' went in to hunt for some mussels. Then, as the water melted, he was in danger of the tide. Nate and Seth loved this so much they did it again the next day.

Christopher made an igloo and dog sled team.

For art, we used pastels and made pictures using warm and cool colors.

Christopher's Polar Bear Skiing

Nathan had a hard time with ideas.

Seth's Volcanoes

Our Notebook pages:

Christopher

Nathan

Seth

Links:

Draw Write Now connection

Homeschool Share for Flag Minit Book

Inuit / Northern Lights YouTube video Beautiful!

Candace's blog for pictures of Alaska

Hands of a Child Sled Dog Lapbook - we did this after rowing VLFT. (a freebie from HomeschoolEStore a few weeks ago.)

Katy and the Big Snow

2008-01-14T22:56:00.000-05:00

Supplemental books:

While talking about maps we observed an orange, then how the peel (once removed) lays flat.

It does not look like a perfect rectangle, like most world maps do.

We magnetized a needle and watched it point north.

Our notebook pages:

The mini-books came from HomeschoolShare.

Seth did the DrawWriteNow connection, and counted the 'horse power' by fives (which we happened to be covering this week in math).

Vocabulary looked different for all three boys. Seth had cards, Nathan had larger sheets with definitions, and Christopher has a separate vocabulary notebook where he includes synonyms, antonyms, part of speech and a sentence using the word. (alternate vocabulary notebook page free from NotebookingNook)

Christopher's notebook page (not pictured) also included a short story he had written.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

2008-01-09T21:46:00.000-05:00

I have never really considered myself a poetry fan. I pulled Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening intending to row it in the half week before we officially returned to doing school. Before we finished it had turned into a full week.

Our notebook pages:

An idea I got from the FIAR Archives was to use a coffee filter for making snowflakes.

Top right, the first verse from the poem copied.

For art they drew a picture in black and white, then colored one part in order to draw the focus in, similar to Susan Jeffers' illustrations.

The Layer book was an afterthought, but so easy to pull together. I used these simple instructions and found this worksheet and put them together.

We also included these books during our time this week; 2 poetry books and one about animals in winter. My favorite, however, was the Tasha Tudor illustrated A Child's Garden of Verses.

As we read through the collections of short poems there were a few that I remember my mom quoting at random during my childhood years. I realized that I do enjoy poetry, especially those that are connected with memories. I was glad we had worked to memorize Stopping by Woods. Hearing a poem that is known and loved is like wrapping up in a favorite blanket.

So while neither my children nor I may ever be great poets, we can build memories and enjoy beautiful things together.

Links:

Animal Track Game

Guess the Tracks Quiz

Track Photos and Quiz

For those who still have younger children, I recommend A Child's Garden of Songs.

And where I go for ideas on putting together mini books: Lapbooking on Squidoo

Rainforest

2008-01-04T23:54:00.001-05:00

We have recently toured a Butterfly Farm and Frog Garden. Since these pictures and memories are so fresh I thought we would take a little time to read up on what we have seen.

In the back of my mind are the makings of an animal notebook...we'll see what develops.

Jan Brett has some fun Rainforest coloring pages and printables.

Amphibian Print outs from Enchanted Learning.

Tropical Rainforest activities, again from Enchanted Learning.

Frog coloring pages from DLTK.

Read Aloud 2007

2007-12-31T10:13:00.000-05:00

Clown of God

2007-12-16T15:46:00.000-05:00

The Flag of Italy and Where in the World? mini books came from HomeschoolShare.

I made two Flip-Flap books. One for columns (using an index card), one for our literary terms.

The vocabulary cards were made with 4x6 index cards, then cut in half.

And since we rowed this book right before Christmas, we also made these Stained Glass Ornaments.

Clown of God ~ Stained Glass Ornaments

2007-12-14T11:14:00.001-05:00

This week we are 'rowing' Clown of God. I had a rare moment of inspiration and threw together these ornaments with the kids.
I took stained glass coloring pages that I had saved from the Dover Weekly Free Samples, like THIS one and THIS one, (saved as a picture file) and printed it on oniony thin paper (I had accidently picked some up on my constant quest for cardstock, you could probably use tracing paper). I printed it as a wallet size so they would not be too big. Then I cut frames from craft foam and glued them together.
Not bad for a spur of the moment craft. I love it when we can do something like this without a trip to the store!

The Red Carpet

2007-12-13T12:15:00.000-05:00

Another Before Five in a Row book I did with the younger boys was The Red Carpet by Pex Parkin. The manual has good ideas for a younger crowd (geared for ages 2-4) but I still wanted to use it and beefed it up just a little.

We marked it on our map, using New York as our 'home' for the Hotel Bellevue. Did you know there really is a city called Kobe? I didn't, but we found out it is in Japan. We also put story discs on Paris and London to show where people were traveling from to stay at the Hotel Bellevue.

Ideas I copied were the vocabulary words and the coins for the ferry. An original idea I had was to make a little homophone book that included words like fairy/ferry, wing (of a bird)/wing (of a building), in/Inn and (one I forgot to include) hare/hair.
We talked about Newton's first law of Motion which states: An object will remain at rest, or continue to move at a constant velocity, unless an external net force acts upon it. Then we watched a soccer ball gain momentum as we rolled it down the hill.

We also compared parts of the story that were similar to those in Lentil by Robert McCloskey. We talked about how in both stories people were made to feel special. Seth (6) also pointed out how the mayor in Lentil was worried when the band could not play, and how the doorman was worried when the carpet ran away.

Special thanks to Molly at Homeschool with Index Cards for helping me get handwriting lines on an index card to make the vocabulary template.

2 Weeks in the American Revolution

2007-12-12T22:42:00.001-05:00

Katy No-Pocket

2007-12-10T20:10:00.000-05:00

I have been sorry that I did not pull out the Five in a Row sooner. We have really passed the last time they would be perfect for my kids and Seth did not get to do any of them. In November, Spencer took Christopher to the States with him and I spent this time going over a couple of Before Five in a Row books with Nathan and Seth.

I found these great animal classification cards at Homeschool Share and put together a lap book that we can re-visit with each new set. One thing I would do differently: instead of making the entire book red, I would have used two different colored folders to better separate the Vertabrates from the Invertabrates. I used pockets I had picked up at a school supply store and trimmed the cards in order to make them fit.

The Usborne Illustrated Encyclopedia: The Natural World proved to be a good backbone as the kids had questions about animals we encountered.

On the last day with Katy we painted, an idea I had gotten from here (through HomeschoolShare). The boys enjoyed painting.
Then Alix decided to join in the fun. We enjoyed looking at examples and she even looked into the meanings of the different patterns.

And of course I had to try it too. (I cheated a little, the snake was already printed on the page)

Cranberry Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T01:09:00.000-05:00

Our notebook page:

I printed the pictures I had taken while we made the bread (wallet sized, fast draft to use less ink) and had the boys put them in order. we stapled them together to make a little book.

The DrawWriteNow page ideas and the match books came from HomeschoolShare.

A Pair of Red Clogs

2007-10-13T01:06:00.000-04:00

Just a peek at some of the things we did last week:

We made 'rain in a jar' and discussed the water cycle along with water being solid, liquid, or gas.

The boys played the 'Weather Telling Game'. We discovered that flip-flops rarely land on their side. We discussed probability and graphed our results.

Lentil

2007-09-11T01:03:00.000-04:00

The Story of Ping

2007-09-01T16:00:00.000-04:00

This was our first book in our Five in a Row journey. I was sad when I realized that Seth had never heard it before. The other boys remembered it fondly, though. When we were finished with our first day 'rowing' Christopher tells me, 'Thanks, mom, for doing this." I answered off handedly. He touches my arm and waits until we have eye contact and says, 'No, really, thanks!' Oh how I was sad we hadn't started it sooner, but glad that I had brought it with us to Costa Rica.

The China page was a freebie from Dover. When they come in, I save them as a picture file to be used later. You can sign up to receive emails concerning their latest samples here.