Weekly Wrap-Up: Finished!!

Did you get that? We are FINISHED ~ our summer vacation has officially begun!  We aren’t going to completely ditch the books this summer, after a break we are going to continue to work on reading, spelling and writing.  I also want to start doing some nature journaling and drawing this summer. 

Some highlights from the week (bad and good):

We started out the week with Emily getting gloop stuck in her hair. 

Let me tell you, this stuff does not come out easily!  Luckily we didn’t have to cut her hair. 

On to the good!  The kids are very excited because we are heading to the beach later this month.  This will be the first time either of them has seen the ocean.  Since we are heading to the beach we have been learning about the ocean and all the fascinating creatures who live in it.

Emily decorated a picture frame with sea shells and course sand to keep a beach picture in ~ cause you know I’m gonna take a bunch of pictures! 

We had some glorious thunderstorms this week so we made a Thunder Cake.  It was quite yummy!   

 

 

 

 

 

I have been listening to the The Schoolhouse Expo online for the past three days!  What a great way to end the school year ~ getting encouraged and excited about learning!  

I hope everyone else had a great week!  Is the end of your school year in sight?  Visit Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what other homeschoolers have been doing this week.

~Cindy

Preschool Corner ~ Ocean

Our theme this week was the Ocean.  I had lots of fun things planned for the week but we didn’t get to most of them.   Let’s just say there was a general lack of enthusiasm this week when it came to school time ~ can I just blame it on the rainy weather?  Aiden was in the mood for school time on Thursday so we did get in one day of learning fun.  

Letter of the Week:

We made an O is for Ocean.   To make it we filled a Ziploc bag with Corn Syrup and blue food coloring and added some sea animal buttons that I found at Michael’s.  I taped it to the back of the letter O and let Aiden have fun squishing the bag.

Book of the Week and Craft:

We read The Rainbow Fish

and Aiden painted a rainbow fish. 

When it was dry he glued some scales to the fish that I cut out of aluminum foil.

He also made a….um….well, it’s suppose to be an octopus but I think it looks more like a squid.  To make it we used two brown paper bags.  He colored one of the bags, put the cup in the bag and folded the edges over the cup.  We used the second bag to cut the legs out.  I taped the legs to the inside of the cup and let Aiden add the eyes.

       

Aiden did enjoy playing with his Fish Bubble Counting File Folder Game.

   

  

click the images above to download the game.

I added paper clips to the fish and put them in “water” ~ a big piece of blue felt.  He caught them with his magnetic fishing pole.

Then he lined the fish up in number order

and we counted the bubbles and added the correct number fish to the file folder game.

That pretty much wraps up our week ~ day of Preschool!  To check out more Preschool ideas and activities visit Preschool Corner!

~Cindy

Keeping It Real!

I just listened to Todd Wilson online at The Schoolhouse Expo (sorry it’s sold out but you can still get the Expo To Go).  If you have never read his books or listened to him speak before, I HIGHLY recommend grabbing one of his books!  Todd talks about lies we homeschooling moms believe and the fact that we are not always real with other people because we are afraid of what they might think.  So I’m gonna end the day by keeping it real.

• I stayed in my pjs all day.
• I let the kids watch TV most of the day.
• I have a sink full of dishes.
• My son has no clean underwear ~ and I have a HUGH pile of laundry waiting for me.
• I have been on the computer WAY too much ~ all week!
• I yelled at my kids today ~ numerous times for being loud and acting like….well kids.
• This week  I have really struggled with discipline issues and I have been down on my knees asking God for help and guidance.

Ah, I feel better! 

~Cindy

Fish Bubble Counting File Folder Game

We are heading to the beach later this month.  The kids are quite excited since this is their first trip to see the ocean.  For the next couple of weeks we will be learning about all the animals that inhabit the ocean.

To try and add in some math fun I made Aiden a Fish Bubble Counting File Folder Game ~ counting 1 to 10.

   

click the images above to download the game.

He counts the number of bubbles and picks the fish with the correct number.  I added Velcro dots to the fish and the file folder game.  I colored the dots on the file folder blue, with a permanent marker, so he would not mistake them for one of the fish bubbles.

I’ll post more about how we played the game tomorrow in my Preschool Corner post.

~Cindy

Thunder Cake

Emily and I were so excited when it started thundering and lightning today!  Why you ask?  So we could make a Thunder Cake. 

We love books by Patricia Polacco ~ Thunder Cake is one of our new favorites.  In the book Babushka (grandmother) helps her granddaughter overcome her fear of thunderstorms by baking a special cake.   When the thunder booms Babushka tells her granddaughter

“Don’t pay attention to that old thunder, except to see how close the storm is getting.  When you see the lightning, start counting….real slow.  When you hear the thunder, stop counting.  That number is how many miles away the storm is.”

Babushka and her granddaughter count how long they have until the storm arrives and hurry to gather the supplies needed to make a Thunder Cake.

Ever since Emily and I read this book we have been patiently waiting for a thunderstorm.  Today as it thundered and lightning we counted how close the storm was and hurried to make our cake.

Babushka’s Thunder Cake

Cream together one at a time:
1 cup shortening
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs, separated ( Blend yolks in. Beat whites until they are stiff, then fold in.)

1 cup cold water
1/3 cup pureed tomatoes (yes, you read that right!)

Sift together:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup dry cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease two 8 1/2-inch round pans.  Mix dry mixture into creamy mixture.  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.  Frost with chocolate frosting and top with strawberries.

  

The cake turned out a little lopsided but it wasn’t anything some extra frosting couldn’t hide.

Chocolate cake and chocolate frosting ~ delicious!  I didn’t tell Daddy that it had tomatoes in it and he didn’t seem to notice anything strange.  I guess since I knew they were in there I thought I could taste them. 

Emily and I had fun making the cake and a special memory!

~Cindy

Download N Go™ Expedition Australia ~ Review

The Download N Go™ E-book Series was created by Amanda Bennett and The Old Schoolhouse.  Each themed unit study is created for grades K – 4th grade.  E-books are available to purchase for $7.95 each or at a discount in bundles from TOS Magazine’s Schoolhouse Store. 

Each units includes

• Daily objectives and in depth lesson plans.
• A list of suggested books for each day.
• Internet and video links.
• Daily printables and lapbook pages.
• Fun family ideas.

Preparation and Supplies

The only preparation required is printing the lapbook pages, cutting them, gathering lapbook materials and books.  To put the lapbook together you will need a few inexpensive items ~ a file folder,  glue stick, scissors, brass brads, and crayons or markers.

Download N Go™ Expedition Australia 

My kids love learning about other countries and lapbooks so I was very excited when I receive Download N Go™ Expedition Australia to review. 

So what are some of the fun things taught in Download N Go™ Expedition Australia?

Day 1: Where on Earth Is Australia?

Day 2: Some of the Special Places in Australia

Day 3: A Bit of Australian History

Day 4: Cool Things to Know About Australia

Day 5: Fun and Games in Australia

My Thoughts

This is an amazing unit study!  It would have taken me weeks to put this much information together ~ lesson plans, book lists, internet and video links, creating or finding printables.  The unit is designed to be completed in five days, I have younger kids so I would definitely slow it down and spread it out over a couple of weeks.   Even though it is recommended for K – 4th grade, it could easily be adapted to include younger or older children. 

Pros:

• The lesson plans are easy to follow and the internet and video links are a great addition to the learning experience. 
• The printables contain beautiful graphics and colorful images. 

• The book suggestions include books for different ages and reading ability.  I was pleased to find that our library carried many of the recommended books.
• A great list of Fun Family Ideas.  The list included everything from recipes to how to make a boomerang!
• You can use the units year after year.
• The price ~ $7.95!

Cons:

• The cost of printing.  I started out trying to print only the lapbook components that I thought we would use, but I’m a hands on kind of girl and decided I needed to print the entire unit (103 pages). 

You can purchase Download N Go™ Expedition Australia at The Old Schoolhouse Store.   While you are there check out some of the other great unit studies they have ~ here are just a few!

        

 This product was given to me for review purposes. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.

~Cindy

What I’ve Been Doing the Past 2 Hours or BEWARE of Gloop!

My kids LOVE the dollar section at Target!  The last time we were there they talked suckered me into buying some pink gloopy stuff that had a little plastic bug in the middle.  As I put two containers in the cart, I was thinking, should I really get this stuff?  Queue music Dum, Dum, Dummmmm!

When we got home, I laid down the ground rules: 

• You are only allowed to play with the gloop at the table!
• If you drop it on the floor make sure you pick it up!
• Do not eat this stuff!

Well, my sweet daughter ignored the first rule, and during quite time she came out of her room in hysterics ~ literally!

This is what I saw.

 

Want a close-up?  Yep, it’s stuck down at the roots of her hair!

Luckily my Mom was here for a visit (I’m sure she would disagree that it was lucky for her).  She held the roots of Emily’s hair as I tried to gently remove the gloop.  Emily was a trooper and didn’t cry as we pulled, combed, pulled and combed some more!

Aiden was sleeping peacefully during most of the ordeal, or at least until he fell out of bed!   I checked to make sure he wasn’t hurt and went back to work on Emily’s hair.  After about two hours, the gloop was out!  Of course so was a good bit of her hair (the picture really doesn’t show how much hair was pulled out).

 

I went back to check on Aiden and this is what I found.

Him curled up on the floor sleeping soundly on a pee soaked rug!   Insert crazy laughter ~ really what else could I do?  So how was your day?

~Cindy