Homeschool Highlights (3/2/20-3/6/20)

This week, we traveled to Panama with Expedition Earth! We learned about the Panama Canal and watched a YouTube video on how it works. We colored our flag page, did some mapping activities, read some fascinating facts, and colored a picture of kids dressed in traditional clothing. We made our postcards and flip books.

We made Panamanian molas and pottery. Our pottery didn't turn out exactly how we envisioned it, but the kids had fun.

top left, Silas age 9

top right, Mercie age 12

bottom, Titus age 7

We read several books about Panama, including this really cute one about a bird who needs to migrate to Panama but doesn't know the way.

We didn't do very much science this week, but we did read this great living book called "Insects and the Strange Things They Do." I had the kids pick an insect from the book and write a few facts about it. We were going to study a few more types of insects, but the kids asked to move on. So it will be arachnids that we learn about next!

We finished reading in Genesis and moved on to Exodus. We read through chapter 8 in Exodus and the kids made a few notebook pages about what we read. This is a great way to really cement what they've learned into their heads and hearts. They do a great job with it, too! They've also memorized Psalm 23, so we'll move on to a new passage next week.

We'll be adding to our 10 Plagues notebook page as we come to each plague.

Mercie is still reading through "Island of the Blue Dolphins" and Silas is still reading "A Bad Beginning." They all did five lessons in language arts and in math this week. Mercie has been working through an Art-Pak from Homeschool in the Woods (a review product from the Crew). We actually have several review products we are reviewing right now, including a math app, a Bible storybook, a new product from Math-U-See and a few more things. I'm thankful to be back on the Crew, but it is quite a bit of work - fun work, though.

We spent most of the week at home. Monday night Mercie, Silas, and Titus had baseball and softball tryouts for Dixie league. Both of the boys moved up a league this year. Eli had a playoff basketball game Tuesday night, but they lost so they are out of the playoffs. Now it's time for baseball and softball!

Last Saturday Eli and Mikaela both went to the Regional Literary Rally. Mikaela went in Health and Eli went in Ag. I'm so proud of both of them! If they did well, they'll get to attend the State Rally in Baton Rouge.

Next week the public school are out for Spring Break, and I'm giving my homeschooled kids a break, too! Other than Crew items, we won't be doing any school. The weather is supposed to be warm and I plan on having the kids help me get the yard picked up and our porch fixed up nice. We built a huge front porch and a nice sized back porch last year and I have yet to decorate them. I'll also be working on my 30 Days of Clean Challenge next week. There are a few bigger projects I'll be tackling!

A few candid shots from the week:

They love to jump on the trampoline.

Zeke loves to color!

He loves to use pens. I think his grasp is so cute.

How was your week? Feel free to link up any homeschool-related posts! Please visit and comment on the other posts in the link-up.

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100 Days of Art: Panamanian Molas (Day 14)

In our study of Panama this week, we read about these layered, fabric appliques called molas. I thought it would be fun to recreate our own! This craft did produce a few frustrated outbursts from a child or two, but overall they were pleased with their projects.

 

Supplies:

fabric scraps

sharp scissors

chalk

white glue (fabric glue would be ideal but we didn't have any)

 

The first thing to do is decide on a shape. A simple shape is best, because fabric is hard to cut straight and you'll be cutting three or four of these shapes. Silas chose a diamond, Titus chose a star, and Mercie chose a circle/oval shape.

 

Chose the first fabric you would like and turn it over. Draw with chalk the shape on the back of the fabric. Cut it out.

Next chose a different fabric. Turn it over and place the shape you just cut out on it. Draw with chalk about 1/4 to 1/2 inch outside the edge of your shape. Cut it out.

Repeat once to three more times.

 

 

Next, glue your shapes together, layered, in order from biggest to smallest.

 

 

And now you have a simplified form of a Panamanian mola!

 

(Silas, 9 years old)

(Mercie, 12 years old)

(Titus, 7 years old)

 

You could also use construction paper or scrapbook paper, which may make this a  bit easier. I think we'll try doing that.

 

 

Check out our other projects in my 100 Days of Art Challenge!

Day 1: Learning to Draw

Day 2: Pyramids

Day 3: String Art

Day 4: Optical Illusion Art

Day 5: Kandinsky Concentric Circles

Day 6: Rainbow Paint Chip Mosaics

Day 7: Llama Valentine Box

Day 8: Minecraft Valentine Box

Day 9: Model Insects

Day 10: Symmetrical Butterflies

Day 11: Butterfly Feeder

Day 12: Dragonfly Magnets

Day 13: Watercolor Peruvian Llamas

Reading Through the Alphabet: G

We are reading the letter "G" this week! Here are the picture books we will be reading:

The first book was my sister's favorite when we were growing up: "Grandpa Bud" by Siobhan Dodds. This is a really fun book to read aloud! A little girl named Polly calls her Grandpa and asks if she can come over and spend the night. She tells him she would like a chocolate cake, as well! Then she proceeds to call him several more times, inviting more friends and requesting their favorite foods, as well. In the end, her friends turn out to be stuffed animals! Polly, Grandpa and her stuffed animals enjoy the feast he prepared.

The next book is one my kid's favorite stories! "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury is a classic children's book. The family is going on a bear hunt, but there are many obstacles they must overcome. What happens when they finally do see a bear? It's also a really fun read aloud book. And for some reason, I always read it with a British accent? Hmm...

 

"Goodnight Moon" is also a very well known and well loved children's book. We have several copies! It's a calming book to read before bed, saying goodnight to everything in the house.

 

I'm excited to see what books you've read that begin with "G"! Link up any posts, old or new, and be sure to visit the other blogs. Thank you!

 



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30 Days of Clean Challenge: Day One

I am normally a fairly clean and organized person, and I've always had the mindset of "a place for everything and everything in its place".

However.

Since giving birth to Zeke 15 months ago and trying to homeschool three kids with a very active toddler, not to mention all of our extra-curricular activities, my house has taken a backseat. It's not terrible by any means - we keep it tidy, get the laundry and dishes done daily, and keep it generally clean. But there are several projects I've been meaning to get to - some big and some small - and I figured if I gave myself a challenge to blog about, hopefully I would get it all done!

I decided today to tackle a small project - our medicine cabinet. I have been haphazardly throwing medicine back into our cabinet, digging for stuff I know we have (thermometers namely!), and I knew I needed to clean out and organize the box we keep our medicines in!

Here is a picture of the before:

the inside of the cabinet (why do we have so many bottles of hydrogen peroxide??)

and a close-up of the inside of the box

I took out every single thing from the box, threw away all medicine that was expired and all empty boxes and bottles, and wiped down the box.

I put each item into a group:

- kid's medicines

- adult medicines

- creams

- bandages and wraps

- medicine cups and droppers

- sprays (aloe relief sprays, burn sprays, Dermaplast)

I put each group into a gallon size zipper bag and put the bags back in the box!

It looks so much better, and it took me around 20 minutes to do it.

Then I noticed our nebulizer - it never fits back into the box like it is supposed to. I put the nebulizer, the tubing and the medication into a plastic tub with a lid. So much nicer!

before

after

It's a small step, but I felt so much better having done it! Also, am I the only person who keeps weird things, thinking we may can use them for some school project? There were these foam squares in the nebulizer box that I couldn't bear to throw away.

The next thing I tackled was my arts and crafts supplies. I keep this in my laundry room, so I don't see it all the time. Therefore, "out of sight, out of mind." It had gotten a bit ridiculous because instead of putting things back in their place, we were just tossing them in a random box. The kids had been in there, making crafts and making a mess of our supply area. Here is the before:

 

 

As you can see, stuff wasn't even fitting in the drawers and they couldn't be closed all the way. Random items were placed on top and there is no order to any of it.

 

I took each drawer out, emptied it, knocked out the trash, glitter, and bits. I then used about 20 gallon zipper bags to organize the supplies and then organized each bin to have like items. Hopefully this will make it easier to find things when I need them. It took me around an hour to do this, and Mikaela entertained Zeke for me while I did it. That was so helpful!

 

I have an entire gallon zipper bag of Christmas items.

 

I found more rubber bands than I will ever need!

 

And here is the after:

 

Much nicer! I have in the black bin set a bin for stickers, stamps, craft sticks and wooden sticks, beads and buttons, ribbons, glues and tapes.

 

In the purple bin set each bin holds random items like blank frames, cotton balls, straws, Christmas items, balloons and balloon pump, scrapbook paper and index cards, paper plates, chalk, and more.

 

The bins in the middle hold extra colored pencils, crayons, felt, and craft sticks. I probably have 5000 craft sticks, and sadly that's not an exaggeration. We also have our air dry clay on top of the middle bins. The blue box on top of the black bins holds tissue paper. And I have some plastic flowers left over from our Valentine banquet!

 

I feel much better now that my art supplies are organized. I also found some items I forgot I had! Now, to keep it this way...

 

 

Blogging Through the Alphabet - Under

I was really stretching it this week with my "U" word - under. I couldn't really think of anything I wanted to blog about that begins with U. I thought about the word under....then the land down under...and then Mercie's presentation that she gave on Friday at our homeschool rally.

Each month we get together with another family and the kids give presentations. They have a topic each month to research and report on. This month we had a geography fair.

Mercie gave her presentation on Australia. She did a great job! She told us several interesting facts about Australia, including why they call it the land down under - because it's under the equator! I learned a few things, including the fact that eucalyptus is poisonous to most animals and boomerangs were used for hunting!

Silas gave his presentation on Texas. He also did a great job and had many fun facts. He told us that Dr Pepper was invented in Texas (and there is no period after Dr) and that the single star on their state flag symbolizes their struggle for independence. Also, their state mammal is the armadillo!

Titus gave his presentation on Spain. He is fascinated with Spain because he loves the book and movie Ferdinand. In fact, he gave his first presentation on the book Ferdinand! He told us that children in Spain don't have a tooth fairy - they have a tooth mouse!

We decided not to meet again until May. March and April are going to be busy months for both of our families because we both have 5 kids (each!) that play baseball and softball. We are going to let the kids choose anything under the sun they want for their final presentation (see what I did? I worked "under" in here again!)

I am glad they have had the opportunity to learn how to research, make a presentation and a board, and speak in front of others. It's been fun!

Linking up with .