Magic Fish

 

I wanted a more hands on science so when we were at the last home school convention I let Kit pick a science kit to do. I wanted her to be able to choose the topic so that she will like it. She choose polymers from the Academy of Science for Kids. We do each of the 12 units on Fridays and Kit has invited her friend Miss Ripstick. This week they were doing Figure Out These Funny Fish. They had to make a hypothesis and then test it. I like the scientific process that they are learning. Their first hypothesis was incorrect and they had to devise another one. That was very beneficial for them also. They don't need to be correct the first time.

Making Movies

Kit had her second day of lessons and I am trying my had at IMovie. Here it is.

Click to see the full video.

Matching Letters

During our music time I have letters on the floor in alphabetical order.  We listen to songs while we dance and step on the letters. Kit is learning them in spanish and Mr. Wheels is learning them for the first time. I have been concentrating on A, B, C, & D only because I didn't want to overwelm him, but this day I started using all of them. I have 2 sets of the foam letters. One set is on the floor and I hand him another one for him to match. Days before I did this and he had some trouble finding the match, but today he did much better. I give him a letter and he walks around and looks at his letter and compares it with the letter on the floor. I was quite impressed. The picture below is him with letter R and U. I think it is cute that he was impressed with himself when he matched the U. He has a big smile.

Days Of the Week

Every other day we do some music time. During that time we listen to about 5 to 6 songs that go with what we are learning. There is always at least 2 songs from the the We Sing Around The World because Kit is studying world cultures this year. Mr. Wheels has his songs too and this week we have the days of the week. He is not old enough to sing the words but he dances around with us and is getting exposure to the words. The reason I picked the days of the week for him is because Kit is learning Spanish and I have a days of the week songs for her. We listen to them in both English and then Spanish. I had the Twin Sisters Spanish CD for a while and it has come in handy this year. I decided that I would print out the words for the days of the week. We would put them on the floor while we step/dance on them as sing the song. This would help her remember them better. I also decided that she could use them to match them so she could learn them better. I have a great time during music time and I hope it will be remembered as a memorable home school time.

Race Day

This is the second annual United Way race that Kit took part in. She was not sure that she wanted to be a part of it this year. Last year she trained for the race this year she got on the home elliptical machine a about once a week. She didn't feel ready. Sunday she told her best friend (Miss. Ripstick) that she was not going to do it. At that time she found out that her friend was only going to join the race if Kit raced. Monday morning Kit jumped on the elliptical and raced for a 1/2 mile and discovered that it was not that hard. She had me promptly call Miss. Ripstick and tell her she was doing the race. She then found out that Miss. Ripsitck had been training with her brother and had decided to be in the race too. 

When race day came Kit was nervous. She complained that her stomach ached and she didn't understand why. We tried to help her understand that it was normal for her to be nervous before a race. Kit ran well. She ran most of it and finished. I was able to take a picture of her crossing the finish line. I didn't expect that I would be able to see the score board timer, but I zoomed in and found that her time was 5min 37sec. She was a bit disappointed for not getting a metal, but we were very proud her for doing the race and finishing.We have decided to train before the race next year.

Crossing the Boarder

Today we crossed the boarder. We left Mexico and we are now in Canada.

Mexican Dinner

For school Kit was studying Mexico. In a previous post you can see that we made a pinata. This was just the start. We decorated it, put candy in it and devised a plan to hang it. After it was all over we knew many things that we would do differently if we had it to do all over. We would put the string to hang it starting it at the bottom and running through it. We had trouble with it pulling out. We would also put more tissue paper on as a background. Kit was disappointed that the newspaper could be seen through the tissue paper.  I was happy with the end product since it was our first time trying.

Friday night we had a Mexican dinner. We fixed fajitas with chips and salsa. Kit learned how to make Mexican tissue paper flowers  and was in charge of decorating the table.

We wanted to have some friends come over to break the pinata and help eat the candy. While Kit was in Sabbath School she told her friends that she was going to break a pinata at 3:00 and they were invited to come and help. We went outside just a little before 3:00 and waited to see who would show up. Kit was afraid that no one would show up. Well you can see by the picture that many did show up. It was fun watching the kids ride their bikes as they came over to our house.

We had trouble hanging it so my husband hooked it up in a miniature basket ball net. When we blind folded the first person and spun him around, he swung only twice and broke it open, but since it had the miniature net under it it didn't fall down. All the rest of the kids were able to be blind folded and hit the pinata at least 2 times. They all had fun.

Museum Field Trip

Today we went to a museum that has Fossils, Gems, Minerals, Dinosaurs, Vintage Cars and Hands-On exhibits for the kids. We had a wonderful time. Kit had fun being with friends. She is very social and loves experiencing the exhibits with others. Mr. Wheels is very inquisitive and enjoyed everything. He was especially interested in the cars, train, and the helicopter. Kit was able to pan for gems with friends while Mr. Wheels looked at the cars and such. I didn't want Mr. Wheels to get all wet. We will go back some other time when he is a bit older. They both searched for dinosaur bones. Mr. Wheels was very timid about using the brushes to remove the sand. Kit found some very cool sharks teeth that she took home. The museum has a large collection of rocks Mr. Wheels liked the large amethyst, because he got to touch it. We were very hungry after looking around for a while and the group all met together at the pavilion for the lunches we had packed. Outside the museum there are various trucks that Mr. Wheels enjoyed looking at. We all gathered in front for a group picture. Many of the group members left after lunch, but we went back in and explored as a family. Before lunch I let Kit explore with her friends, while I was with Mr. Wheels. We looked around in the gift shop. Mr. Wheels fell in love with the hard hat with the light on the front. We went into the children hands on area and spend most of our time in the light exhibit. 


I am very thankful for the home school group that has organized this year. I enjoy the outings we go on together. I want my daughters home school experience to be more than educational. I want her to look back on her time with me in school with fond memories. Even though I have teach her at home her school is done in many more places than at home! I feel privileged to be able to spend the time with my kids with other people that have the same goals in mind.

Math Game

Today for math we played a math game. We use RightStart math and they have a corners game. The math game is like dominoes but to match the numbers they have to add to multiples of 5. This is a review from last year. Kit has a score sheet in front of her. She keeps her own score. She has gotten very good at this game. Today's game was more fun that previous games because she is getting better at it and there is not as much frustration.  Today I won by only 15 points. This was a very close game. She was disappointed.




While Kit and I do math Mr. Wheels must have something to do. As you can imagine he would be into everything if he didn't have something to do. I have made some things for him to do. Today he played with his blocks and puzzles. I intended for him to stack the blocks on the letter, but he just wanted to stack them. After he was done with the blocks, I brought out the puzzles. I am very happy with his ability to put a puzzle to together. The video below was the 3rd attempt. He had trouble with the pieces with the same color. He put them in the wrong place. He decide to do the puzzle over and over. When I watch the video it makes me smile to see how excited he gets when he is successful.

Horse Lessons

Today was the first day for Kit's horse riding lessons. She said that she was nervous the before we got there. Then when we drove up she saw that some things had changed and she was still nervous. After she got on the horse the nerves subsided. She remembered what she learned last year and she felt good about her lesson. I was very proud of her. She is a very cautious girl and she was trotting with her arms off the reins. Mr. Wheels fell in love with the dogs that they had there and after Kit was done with her lesson and the saddle was off Mr. Wheels was able to sit on the horse.

Mexican Piñata

This year Kit is studying world history. This week she is learning about Mexico In the picture below she is making a piñata. We had a bit of difficulty at first. I was a bit overwhelmed with the mess of the project and all of my homeschool stuff out. We had fun after a while. The piñata is drying for today and tomorrow we will put on some color on it. I hope to have a Mexican party in a couple of days and burst our piñata.

While Kit was making the piñata mr. Wheels was learning to glue colored cars on paper.

Cheerio Book

I have received a Cheerio book for Mr. Wheels. It has pictures with Cheerio's as part of the illustration and kids are supposed to put their own Cheerios into the missing parts of the pages. Here are pictures of Mr. Wheels doing so. You will notice that he is putting them in his mouth too. When he did get the idea that he was supposed to put them on the page he clapped for himself.

My Favorite Deserts

Kit is studying deserts in science and she was assigned a 2 point expository paragraph in English. We decided to combine both of them. This is what she wrote today.

Planning A Trip to St. Augutine

 

We are planning a trip to St. Augustine in a couple of months. I had a brain storm that I should make some lessons for my kids so that the trip could be educational. I think that they will have more fun if they have some knowledge before we go. Kit will be working on her Junior Ranger badge for St. Augustine. I have a resource page made from my brain storm. I will use these to teach both Mr. Wheels and Kit.

A Day At The Fair

Today we had a homeschool group field trip. We went to the town fair and then had a picnic. Kit was very adventurous and brave. She is normally very cautious but she went on the flying swings and on the large blowup slide. I was so proud of her. Mr. Wheels got to go on several rides too and had fun. He also enjoyed to animals.

 

Counting Bears

I have made some cards that have little circles on them. They are big enough to fit his counting bears. I want him to put them on them and then we will count them. I am using this to move up to other activities of learning colors, sorting, counting and numbers. He did do it a little but he had more pouring the bears into the cups.

Performance

Kit is part of the youth choir at church. She loves it. Today she had a performance at church during offering.  She was very nervous because they performed a round and she was worried that she would loose her place. She did wonderful!

Dancing

During school we have sing and dance time. I have a play list created on my IPhone and I plug it into the stereo. We dance and do motions to the songs. For one of the songs we listen to an alphabet song. I have foam letters that we put on the floor in order and run on them while the song is playing. Then we listen to a Spanish alphabet song and do the same. Both Kit and Mr. Wheels love to do this and they are both getting something educational.

The Letter A

Mr. Wheels is placing letter chips on the cards. He did better than  I thought. He didn't have to decide which letter to use he only had the letter A. Eventually I will give him the next letters and eventually he will have to distinguish between letters. But for now only the letter A.

 

Thank you to PreKinders for the graphics for these and to Confessions of a Homeshooler for the chips idea and the chips printables. I combined both of these ideas into one place.

Book lovers

While changing a diaper Kit was reading a book. After I was finished Mr. Wheels climbed up and she read it to him. I love this picture.