Coming Soon….Curriculum Clean-OUT!

 

 Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations is hosting a Curriculum Clean-OUT from April 11th – April 24th.  What is it you ask….well it isn’t a sale, but a way to bless another family with an item (or items) that could use a new home.  Give away something on your blog and/or visit other bloggers giveaways and enter to win some great stuff!

To find out more, visit Homeschool Creations Curriculum Clean-Out Details post from last fall.

~Cindy

Raising Rock Stars ~ Resurrection Eggs

 

Emily and Aiden were so excited that I finally pulled out the Resurrection Eggs this week. 

We have been doing two eggs each day, reading the booklet that came with the eggs, and the corresponding Bible verses. 

The kids took turns opening the eggs

and discovering what was inside.

I love the Resurrection Egg Printables that Carisa at 1+1+1=1 created.

Aiden matched up each item to the correct picture

 and Emily matched the words to the pictures.

Our memory verse this week was 1 Corinthians 15: 3-4.

We watched The Beginners Bible: The Story of Easter

and made Resurrection rolls, another yearly tradition.

 

By the time I remember to take a picture of the finished rolls, this is all that was left.

 

Be sure to visit Carisa at 1+1+1=1 and see some of the other Raising Rock Stars posts this week!

~Cindy

Marble Run or Chocolate Easter Egg Run

I found a really great idea on Family Fun to make a marble run out of cardboard tubes.

What You Need:

• Cardboard tubes in a variety of sizes (paper towel, wrapping paper, toilet paper)
• Empty tissue box (we used a basket with Easter grass)
• Colored tape
• Craft knife or scissors
• Self-adhesive magnet strips
• Marbles (we used chocolate eggs)
• Optional:  picture of chicken

What You Will Do:

1.  Cover the tubes with colored tape.  (NOTE:  If you paint your tubes you will need to add colored tape to the back and then place your self-adhesive magnet strips on the tape.  The self-adhesive will not stick to the paint.)

 

2.  Cut openings for the marbles in the tubes.

3.  Place self-adhesive magnet strips on one side of the tubes and attach them to the refrigerator.

4.  Let the fun begin!

I set up a small marble run on our magnetic board for Aiden.  He would roll the dice to see how many eggs the chicken laid, count the correct number of chocolate eggs,  and drop them in. 

The kids favorite part ~ eating the eggs!

~Cindy

Weekly Wrap-Up: Spring Break, Sort Of…

I feel like I completely dropped off the earth most of the week!  No friends over, no blogging, Facebook or Twitter!  I had things planned, but after starting the week with a killer migraine, and then getting lost in a really good book, we just kept it simple.  We did get to all of the basics, reading, writing and arithmetic, so I’m hoping to take a few days off next week to get to some much needed spring cleaning! 

Friday we had co-op, which will soon be finished for the school year (sigh), and I did enjoy going out with a friend for coffee. 

The only picture I took this week was of Emily and the bunny she made with a Crayola Model Magic Presto Dots kit.  I’ll have to remember to buy a kit for me next time, because Emily wouldn’t let me help.

To see what other homeschoolers have been up to this week, visit Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

~Cindy

Tot School – Dinosaurs

~Aiden is currently 40 months old~

Our theme this week was dinosaurs and the letter D. 

Letter of the Week

We made our D is for Dinosaur, and read Aiden’s favorite book Dino Pets.

Aiden used Do-a-dot paints to paint the letter D.

Gluing pictures of things that start with the letter D.  I found the alphabet worksheets at Homeschool Creations.

His completed letter D file folder.

Alphabet

This was Aiden’s favorite activity this week.  We stacked his blocks, adding a sticky note with a letter of the alphabet to each tower we made.  He wore dinosaur shoes that I made out of foam sheets.

I would call out a letter of the alphabet and he would roar and act like a dinosaur, knocking over the block tower with the correct letter.

Playing with his magnetic letters and numbers.

Reading and Pre-Writing

Reading with the Leapfrog Tag reading system.  I originally bought this for my daughter, but Aiden loves it!

Tracing dinosaur pre-writing cards from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Math

Counting dinosaurs as her transferred them into pens.

Color Matching

He went on a dinosaur hunt.  Matching the colored dinosaur

to the correct color card.  I found the game here.

Tot Trays

I added dinosaurs stickers to strips of paper.  Aiden cut in-between the dinosaurs.

Painting a dinosaur. 

Using a dinosaur stamp.

Matching his toy dinosaurs to an electronic interactive game we found at the thrift store.   

Other Activities     

Pouring rice into a bottle.

Science

We read Fossils Tell of Long Ago.

Then Aiden went on an archaeologists dig.   I put the dinosaurs fossils and eggs, that we made earlier in the week, in the sandbox for him to find.

Breaking open the dinosaur eggs.

Kitchen Time

Mixing some flour and water.

Putting away silverware. 

      

Just for Fun

Aiden climbing the rock wall at the Children’s Museum.

 

Mommies favorite picture!

To check out more Tot School posts, visit Carisa at 1+1+1=1.

-Cindy

Weekly Wrap-Up: Kings and Queens Week I

I can’t believe it is time for Weekly Wrap-Up already!  The weather has been wonderful and I’m having a hard time staying focused, and keeping up with the lesson plans!  Of course it doesn’t help that Emily and Aiden are learning about two different topics – I know better than that!  We only have two more weeks, then we are taking Spring break.

Emily has been learning about Kings and Queens this week ~ our main focus has been Queens.

Monday:  We started reading about Queen Esther in the Bible.  After reading we moved our lessons outside.  I love the idea of doing this however, we didn’t get much accomplished. 

Tuesday:  We finished up readying about Queen Esther and started reading about Marie-Antoinette, queen of France.  Emily rushed through her other lessons because she knew we were going to be making Queen Cakes. 

 

Wednesday:  Emily finished up her math lesson for the week.  If she continues at her current pace in math we should be finished by mid April.  Guess that gives us plenty of time to review and get ready for yearly testing.  This is our first year of testing - insert nervous shaking!

After we finished up our school work.  We headed to the Children’s Museum for a play date.

Thursday:  We read The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins.  Then we did a fun activity I found in Thriving Family magazine published by Focus on The Family. 

Emily and Aiden turned one of our chairs into a royal throne. 

We took turns sitting on the throne, pretending to be king or queen, asking other family members to do things such as get a snack, sing a funny song, etc. 

When we were finished playing we talked about loving Jesus, and taking ourselves off the throne and letting him be in charge of our lives ~ letting him be king of our lives.

Friday – The kids had co-op, and Mommy came home to scrub some very dirty floors. 

To see what other homeschoolers have been up to this week, visit Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

~Cindy

Dinosaur Eggs and Fossils

Aiden and I are going to end our dinosaur theme week by reading Fossils Tell of Long Ago, and going on an archaeologists dig.  The kids helped me make dinosaur eggs and fossils, which we will add to our sandbox.  These need to dry for a about a week, so we made them earlier in the week.

I found the idea for dinosaur eggs here.   

What You Need:

1 cup of used coffee grounds

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup of salt

1/2 cup sand (I didn’t have any sand when I made these so I just added some extra salt – they still turned out fine.)

Water

What You’ll Do:

1. Combine flour, coffee, salt and sand together.
2. Mix in water gradually, adding until the mixture holds together. Using less water will result in faster drying.
3. Take a portion of the dough and form an egg shape around each plastic dinosaur. Let eggs dry for about a week.
4. Use a hammer to open the eggs.

The idea for the dinosaur fossils can from Our Crafts~N~Things.

What You’ll Need:

Crayola Model Magic (in the color of your choice)

Small plastic dinosaurs

What You’ll Do:

1. Roll the Model Magic out, and press it down until it is flat.
2. Press a small dinosaur into the clay hard enough to leave an impression.
3. Allow to dry a few days before playing with them.

~Cindy