Snow Day !! Tuesday AND Wednesday ?

It doesn't happen too often here on the Gulf Coast so when it does everything and I mean EVERYTHING  shuts down. Stores, roads, services, schools... you name it... it's closed. But when you home school, then that's a different story. LOL We just took a Snow Day on Friday I think it was. I let the girls have the day off. No snow though, only sleet, freezing rain and really cold temperatures. But close enough. So we spent the day in our PJ's, cuddled in our blankets, watching Netflix or playing Minecraft. 

Today, however, I have a few activities planned for the girls

1. Cave Art Paintings on Brown paper bags - an art activity to finish chapter 1 Story of the World
2. Read Chapter 2 Story of the World
3. Visit Discovery Kids - Play the Mummy Maker game
4. Wrap a Mummy Project
5. Work on Birthday gifts and for Papa
6. Math
7. Science-Cells
8. Geography
9. Art History

So school work will continue as planned except instead of extending the History lesson out throughout the week, I am going to utilize the 2 days that the girls will be stuck inside due to it being too cold to go out and play and let them do more hands on arts/crafts activities. They love it when we do the project portion of lessons and so it will give them lots to do, and break periods as well so they can do bits and pieces here and there , at their own pace.

I can't wait to see how all of these projects turn out. But we are also really excited to see if we actually get SNOW !! and how much we get when and if we do get it. So keeping our fingers crossed, wishing for a winter wonderland, at least for a moment.

Now go learn something and stay warm !
xxoo
Jennifer

Our Curriculum

Aside from the #1 question of "Why did you choose to home school? many home schooling parents often are faced with the question of "What home school curriculum do you use with your children?" So today I am going to share what we are using with our 2 geniuses: Emily and Ella .

Both girls use the same materials but I do supplement other materials as I see fit according to their strengths and weaknesses.

All Subjects

• Learning Aisle

www.learningaisle.com
Free Curriculum for all subjects. The girls enjoy going through the information and taking the quizzes. There are some errors with the quizzes but we manage to make it through them or skip over the issues. This website covers everything from Math, Social Studies, Science (all areas) and Language Arts. 

Math  (Supplemented with other work books and library books)

• Math Skills Grade 3

• Math Skills Grade 4

History : My girls LOVE Story of the World. The Stories are entertaining and easy to understand from a child's point of view. I wish History was this entertaining when I was in school. I probably would have enjoyed it more ... so it's a GREAT thing I am home schooling because I get to do it all over again, because I am enjoying it now ; with them and through them. The activities are fun and exciting and the girls can not wait to do the next lesson and hear and read the the next story.  And Yes, I do the lessons with them and Yes! I said HEAR ! We have 1 copy of the main text and I read the stories to the girls. They are old enough to read to themselves but I read the stories aloud to them, they read aloud, they read to themselves, but they love it when I read the stories to them. We all learn together. It's a super fun way to interact and we all get the History lessons , Together. Isn't that the main reason to home school in the first place? Family Education in a loving, wholesome, caring environment :) ?

• Story of the World Volume 1

• Story of the World Volume 1 Activity Book

• Story of the World Volume 1 Tests Booklet (I use this more not for testing purposes but for review questions).

• Mobile Museum of History (Annual Members)

Science

• The Nature Connection: An Outdoor Family Workbook for Kids, Families, and Classrooms

• Hands on Ecology: Real-Life Activities for Kids

• www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/science/otters_science/science_human_body.html (supplemented with library reading materials and other resources per the internet, Netflix, etc to build a strong lesson plan and unit study)

I had so much saved on my hard drive that I need another hard drive or need to go through and weed out what I do not need to make room for more. LOL :)

But as i mentioned in my post yesterday, I am still searching for that perfect Science curriculum and I think I found what I am looking for but affordability keeps me from being able to be able to use it. So for now, this is what we are going to start using in our home.

But this is what I would really love to use for my girls, Real Science Odyssey. It has exactly what I am looking for in a Science curriculum for both girls and covers everything from Life Science through Space through Chemistry.  I contacted the Publisher or author over a week ago in hopes that they would perhaps donate a copy but I have yet to hear anything back from them. So if you are reading this RSO or you know RSO or Pandia Press :) check your email , I'm waiting.

Writing/Reading/Language Arts

• You Can Write a Story (I won this book from a huge giveaway from Knowledge Quest. Awesome book)

• Complete Year in Reading and Writing:Grade 3:Daily Lessons-Monthly Units-Yearlong Calender

Geography

• A Child's Geography: Explore the Classical World Volume 3 (I actually won this book from Knowledge Quest, so glad I did, it's amazing)

• www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/category/geography

• Workbooks, Maps, Encyclopedias, Currclick, Unit Studies, Puzzles, Games, Note booking

• World Geography

• USA Geography

• Winter Olympics Unit Study (Beginning Feb. 7, 2014)

Arts and Crafts/Music-Composers

• Craft-a-Day:365 Simple Handmade Projects by Sarah Goldschadt (Library book we absolutely LOVE this book. We check this book out regularly and have this on our Wishlist at Amazon.com to purchase soon)

• Mobile Museum of Art (Free Thursdays-Admission is Free on Thursday. We frequent our local Art museum regularly)

• Mobile Public Library and Centre for Living Arts (Monthly Art Project) - Art and artist study/book.

• Cave Paintings to Picasso: The Inside Scoop on 50 Art Masterpieces

• Pinterest, Currclick, Unit Studies, Library, Encyclopedia

Extracurricular/Health/Physical Education

• Family Time Fitness (curriculum/program)
• Leslie Sansone (walking in home)
• Minecraft Club
• Tween/Teen Girls Club
• American Girls Book Club
• Mother/Daughter Book Club
• 4H Junior Gardeners Club
• YMCA Home school Swimming

So there you have it. It may seem a bit disorganized. But This is what we use for the most part and the girls are happy with it. We visit our local History and Art museum on a regular basis. And take advantage of other educational programs around town that are Free and affordable.

This year we hope to be able to sign the girls up for more extracurricular activities and get them more involved in clubs.

This is only our 2nd year home schooling and as time goes by you learn what fits and what doesn't, who likes what, and so you just go with the flow. The excellent thing about home schooling though, is you can pick and choose what ever "flavor" of curriculum you like. Not everyone has to use the same old boring text book. But so far, we are using the same books with both girls and it is working out. Last year, our first year, we had different books for both girls.

Make your home school your home school . And make it a Happy one and a Happy Home.
Now go Learn something !

xxoo
Jennifer

Memory and Passwords ....

I can never remember my password to login once I can actually get in on this website. I have such a hard time finding my blog in the first place. I mean, I do have the link tucked away on my facebook page so I can easily access it and come back to it to update it ... but once I get back here I either can not access it for loss of password due to memorization of issues with this google + thing. Ugh ! It's so confusing.

 BUT !!!! I am here now... and that is what counts . :)

So lets see.... what have we been up to lately . The weather has been quite amazing. We go from one extreme to the next. Recently we literally had a 70 degree day and then the next day we were barely out of the 30s for the highs. Crazy huh?

The girls are doing great. I found these awesome Math Skills workbooks on Amazon.com that are easier than what we had been attempting to use. We had been stuck in our math work for a while and so we put it on the back burner for some time (too long I think) and now with these new work books that I found, we are moving right along. They are perfect. They are not filled with all the fluff and jumbled up with too much artwork and colorful graphics as some workbooks are. Nor are they overly written to the point that you become exhausted and confused . They are straight forward, to the point and basic. Just the way math should be taught. And the girls finally got it ! The lessons we were stuck on in the other texts and work books I had struggled with in teaching them , They Got ! It was one of those A Ha ! moments for both of the girls once we started using these work books. So I am completely satisfied. So far.

 We ordered both the 3rd and the 4th grade work books and both of the girls are working out of the 3rd grade work books for now but at different sections for now.
This company also carries other subjects such as Language Arts and Reading Comprehension and a Complete Comprehensive Curriculum workbook up to the 6th grade level. I plan on picking up the single subject workbooks as well as the comprehensive work books for next school year.

I have still been searching for a Science curriculum for the girls. Yes, still. (if you are reading this and you can recommend one or are a publisher and would like to send yours for a review, email me ) . I some how came across a blog post regarding a book by Colleen Kessler titled

Hands-On Ecology: Real-Life Activities for Kids

 

So I picked this book up from Amazon.com and in 2 days time it arrived. I just received it last night so today I plan to start reading through it and building a few unit studies and lesson plans for the girls around this book. The girls love hands on activities and so this will be right up their alley and combined with the 4H Junior Gardeners Club that they will start going to next week (meeting was cancelled this week, today due to the cold weather), I figure I have enough material to build a nice little Science curriculum.  So I will report back once we get started. 

I hope that your New Years holiday and Christmas were both filled with lots of love and happiness. I know ours here were just that. Aside from catching a cold and spending New Year's in bed for the most part, I did win a 1 Night's stay to a local Hotel (the Holiday Inn down town) for the Moon Pie drop and festivities ... which I will tell you more about that in an upcoming post and share photos. :) So until next time.... 

Happy Home Schooling !

Now Go Learn Something,

xxoo

Jennifer

Home School Giveaways I have won....(yes a few, 5 to be exact !) Part 1

     Fall is here... well almost. And Living here on the Gulf Coast as soon as the temps get below the 85 mark fall is finally here ! And this past week the weather has been marvelous. So lots has been going on lately. We have had lots and lots of activities on our calender and I have yet again avoided blogging. (so hard to keep up with, I have no idea how some of you do it, I commend you all for your many, many blog posts). We have been to the museum repeatedly, the library, joined the home school girls only tween/teen club, joined the home school mine craft club, attended the home school board game club, won a few home school giveaways (yes a few, 5 to be exact !) and joined in with the recent Family Time Fitness 90 Day Family Weight Loss Challenge. So Lots on our plates along with our daily lives, home schooling and what ever else we have to add to our calenders. :) So I have lots and lots of photos happenings to share so where do I start ??? I know... Let's start with the giveaways... that's always exciting.

Giveaways I have won

 

     I do not consider myself a lucky person when it comes to winning anything, if I did, I would drive across the state line over to Pensacola, FL.,  it's about an hour's drive East from here, and purchase a lottery ticket and then we would be living the high life. Or in the words of the great George Jefferson we'd be "moving on up... to the East side". LOL.

     First up, (In August) I won a cute fold-able lap desk from HearthSong Foldable Lap Desks sponsored by Becky over at This Reading Mama  .The girls love it and have gotten so much use out of it. Especially Ella. She loves to use it when she's drawing. She likes to watch You Tube cartoons and sketch them. And Emily likes to put the lap top on it, on the bed and multitask. So it has come in pretty handy. It's super light weight, opens up with a compartment to store supplies and perhaps a few small texts/workbooks and papers. And it's portable, so you can take it along with you . We have yet to take it with us any where, but I am sure we will one of these days.

 

 



     Next up (September 3), I was reading through my emails and and I come across my email from The Homemaker's Mentor asking for short testimonial on what you think of The Homemaker's Mentor lessons you've received from them so far and how a collection of Homemaker's Mentor lessons like this would
be an encouragement to you. So in celebration of their upcoming new release of their Limited Edition CD , they decided to give FIVE copies of their CD away. So I was one of those lucky 5 !

     The CD just arrived last week and it has tons of lessons on it. You can take a peak of what's on the CD here
It will surely come in handy for home-ec lessons and just basic recipe needs and everyday household tips. I simply love it.



    3 more to go.... I will make this a 2 part post... so yep, there's 3 more to go. 2 that are really big ones.
So stay tuned....

     Now go learn something ... unless you are up late like I am.... Go to bed sleepy head.
Jennifer

(I am in no way affiliated with HearthSong, The Homemaker's Mentor or This Reading Mama. I am just blogging and keeping record of my homeschooling adventures with my 2 daughters as we go through our daily lives and wanted to share our recent and very exciting homeschool giveaway winnings all while giving credit where credit is due)

Sandpaper T-Shirt Art

Tonight the girls and I tried out a Pin from one of my Pinterest Boards. Sand Paper T-Shirt Art.

Don't you just love Pinterest?

I have a gazillion pins (well, not a gazillion, but it feels like it) that I am just dying to try out. 

You can Click here to go check out my Pinterest Boards. I have a ton of awesome Home School materials saved there.

The girls and I had a great time drawing on the sand paper, watching the design appear on the t-shirts. It was super fun and didn't take that long at all to do. 

So if you are looking for a fun, in expensive Arts and Crafts project, I highly recommend this one. It's super fun for all ages. The kids can be creative and come up with their own designs. I recommend parental assistance with going over their designs once they are finished so that you can get the lines as dark as possible for a good transfer. And if you are going to use any type of lettering, be sure to do them backwards... Trust me. LOL. Emily wrote out I <3 NY on a smaller piece of sand paper as she wanted that on a sleeve not thinking, we put it on the sleeve, ironed it on and it was BACKWARDS. LOL. I should've known it was going to happen. But we easily fixed it with kitty foot prints, keeping the heart and turning the I into an E for her first Initial. So no problem ! Problem solved.! LOL.

The girls are discussing all the possibilities and designs and colors of t-shirts and using Hobby Lobby coupons to get more t-shirts. So I'm sure you will see more or similar projects in the near future. Time to search Pinterest for more t-shirt art projects :)

Happy Saturday !
Now, Go Learn Something!
Jennifer <3

I Love Thursdays! Especially when they include a Trip to the Mobile Museum of Art

Thursdays are Free days at the Mobile Museum of Art. The girls love going there. And we have not missed a Thursday in the past several weeks. Emily and I went this past Thursday and it was amazing. Let me repeat that A-M-A-Z-I-Z-I-N-G!


Ella did not go with us this time. She decided to stay home as she was busy making cartoon flip books so I decided to let her stay home and continue doing what she was doing. So Emily and I had Mommy/Daughter time. Emily attended the Kids Art in the Afternoon hosted by the Azalea City Quilters Guild. The Kids' explored the art of textiles and patterns and the steps it takes to make a quilt. Emily enjoyed the activity. She loves anything to do with arts/crafts and especially if it has anything to do with sewing. So she had fun.

Thursday's events at the museum were to honor the Grand Re-Opening of the Museum's Gift Shop. If you live in the Mobile/Baldwin County area or are planning a visit to the Gulf Coast, you MUST visit the Mobile Museum of Art. It is something to see. The Exhibits there are just breathtaking and the newly renovated gift shop has something for everyone. Gifts, books, educational toys, clothing, art, household items... the items are limitless. I could literally go bankrupt in the Museum gift shop. But then again, I am in debt and beyond the point of bankrupt, so what does that make me? LOL. Anyways,  a different story for a different day and a different blog. hahahahha But seriously, it's amazing in there. I think I could literally spend my days in the museum and the gift shop just browsing, and reading and searching. If they had a library in the museum, oh no! They'd never get me out of there. Just throw in a comfy couch and I'd be there daily. It's such a peaceful and spiritual place. It's filled with so much emotion. The sights, the smells. I always loathed art history class, it's so boring just sitting and listening and lecturing about it, I'd rather be doing, looking, seeing, smelling, moving about ..... okay, so you get my drift? So the girls want to sign up for their homeschool art courses that are taught there this upcoming semester and the next so I need to get on the ball and make the tuition so they can participate. It doesn't cost that much but to me, at this point and time it does, but the experience they will get from there will be so worth it.

Okay, I strayed from the main idea of this post.....Thursdays...Museum...

But Thursday night , guests were treated to light refreshments. ... an assortments of soda pop and champagne, wine and cheeses, crackers and olives and catered hor d'oeuvres that were just absolutely divine. I'm talking crab cakes with mango salsa, a toasted cake with peaches and raspberry sauce, and a few more. It was just magnificent.

After our light refreshments, Emily and I headed upstairs to view the newly installed exhibits that are purely breathtaking.

We then ventured back in to one of my favorite exhibitions in the entire Museum,

the Katharine C. Cochrane Gallery of American Fine Art.

. I am in love with the work by Miriam Schapiro. Her collage work titled Vera (Paper Collage mounted on Paper) , is just spectacular. I wish I could post an image here but you are not allowed to take photos in that particular part of the gallery so you will just have to go there and see for yourself. Its just amazing. Words can not describe it. The colors, the textures, movement...ah, it's just....go see it... go see it. you will see for yourself. It's my favorite. I've made a point to go see it every time I visit the Museum. Every time! If you Google Miriam Schapiro (or click the Wikipedia link above) you can learn more about her and even check out her works online. She's an amazing artist. Amazing.

And another spectacular piece you must see in person is titled Boy Boy Pinguino (Oil on Canvas) . Luckily, there is a link to this one online from what looks like the public school system here. But you must see this one in person to experience it. The texture and brush strokes give life to this painting. You want to reach out and touch it (but you don't do that, no touching the paintings) You can see every hair strand and eyebrow and lash as if it were really actually there. The eyes seem to move with you as if the boy was gazing upon you from across the move, watching every move you make and you are so mesmerized my his gaze, and the textures of this painting that it's an all of a sudden notification of the penguins in the distant background. I had no idea they were even there, hidden in the distance. I was more focused on everything else that is about this painting. My words and this internet image do not do this painting any justice whatsoever. Go see it!

Boy Boy Pinguino (1998)

Alette Simmons-Jimenez

 

So if you are in the mood for something to do with the kids or the family and it's Thursday, check out the Mobile Museum of Art. They have Kids Art in the Afternoons from 3-6, a free art lesson and then tour the museum for Free. There is a donation box by the Front door as well, so feel free to leave a donation so that they can continue to offer these wonderful services to the community. Here's the Schedule for the rest of the month of August.

This Upcoming Thursday, August 15th, You will definitely find us at the Museum from 3-9. It will be an amazing night . Lots of great things going on. 

August 15
Cool off with a snow cone, freeze in place as you watch the live creation of an ice sculpture, and chill out as you watch the movie Ice Age on this special evening of activities.

• Free admission
• Kids art activities from 3:00 - 6:00 pm
• Purchase tasty snow cones from the KONA ice truck beginning at 3:00 pm
• Live Ice Sculpture by Israel David Archible of Pat's Deli and Catering begins at 6:00 pm in the front parking lot
• Movie showing begins at 7:00 pm in Larkins Auditorium
• Galleries are open until 9 pm
• Light Refreshments

We hope to see you there. 

Thinking Ahead - Our Lesson Plans this week:

• We Will continue Following our Studies of the Planets and Meteors in preparation of the Perseid Meteor Shower (August 11-13)
• we are going to look into the art of Ice Sculptures just for fun of it so the girls know a bit about Ice Sculptures
•  our Art activity will be to create a large Sun by Collaging using mixed media and we will do our basic
• Language Arts
• Spelling Words
• Social Studies/History 
• Handwriting
• Math-Including Multiplication Tables Practice
• We will also continue to read , yes all of us (it's great for the girls to even see their parents reading daily) 30 minutes a day, a book of their choice.  
• Physical Education-Family Time Fitness Lesson Plan and Visits to Ymca for swimming.
• Followed by our weekly trip to the Museum on Thursday with the Kids Art in the Afternoon.

 Until Next Time.....
Go Learn Something New!
Jennifer

( I am in no way affiliated or employed by the Mobile Museum of Art, Nor was I compensated or asked to write up this blurb about their services or events.... I just am passionate about the Arts, my community and the services they provide and it's a great place to visit, family friendly and the staff are wonderful and this place is a must see)

Catching up on This week's Adventures...Releasing Sonic the Turtle Back into the Wild....

Despite My daily migraines, fibromyalgia pains and all the other daily stresses of life we managed to make it over to the Asian Gardens to release the little turtle we found in our front yard. He/She is so cute. And from the size of it, I am guessing it;s no more than 2-3 years old. Little guy it is. (For the turtle's sake, we named it Sonic LOL). So we decided Sonic needed a safer environment to rome about as we have no idea where he came from and I am sure Sonic will get run over in our neighborhood and so we decided to take him/her over to the Asian Gardens. ...

(The Girls Carrying the Cooler we had Sonic in to transport him to the gardens for release -no lid-as you can see, while in transport-he was ready to go and starting climbing the side of the cooler-now we see how he was getting out of the cooler when he was inside our house--we found him walking down the hallway -LOL)

Now, the Asian Gardens is a neat little place...It is fully equipped with a small walking path, 3 ponds filled with koi fish and other small fish, tadpoles and of course, turtles. We found a nice shaded area just at the beginning of the path from the steps where it;s nice and shaded and the water was clear and cool and we put Sonic there on the grass and off he/she scooted and Plop!, into the water Sonic went.

We watched Sonic swim about for a bit, little minnow type fish swarming about , checking out their new neighbor, nibbling at his feet and then swimming away. He then found a nice little shaded grassy area to hide underneath and then poked his little head out, then turned around and swam a bit more towards us, turned around, and poked his head under the grass and it was if he was home. So he found his place. I hope that he is happy there, lives a long happy life there and he/she grows up healthy and like my girls stated, starts a family and has turtle babies of his own one day. I think , if I remember correctly , that his eyes were a light golden brownish yellow, so need to check to see what that meant,... I know we took care of an injured turtle in the past, actually 2 of them this past year.... and I forget what it meant, but you can determine the sex of the turtle by their eye color. So we have had one with red eyes before. hmmm, will look in to that.

(Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming !)

We wish you Many Happy Healthy Years Sonic the Turtle ! We will come visit you often to feed you and your Turtle buddies and fish buddies oh and the Geese and Ducks too.

Until Next Time,
Happy Homeschooling!
Now Go Learn Something.....
Jennifer