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Showing posts from September, 2017

Johnny Appleseed (year 4, week 3)

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UnSplash Tuesday was Johnny Appleseed's birthday, so I introduced the kids to his legends this week.  We watched a few videos about him on Youtube and practiced "The Lord's been Good to Me" song. We made apple pops, which are like caramel apples but in slices.  It was a dismal failure, but they tasted ok.  It think the apple needed to dry out a bit before coating them in caramel.  The kids enjoyed the project, though- they each had a job.  It was our first time doing a food activity that went well.  I'm looking forward to doing more with them. For more ideas on apple activities, check out these other blog posts: - apple microscope pictures - apple themed Montessori movable alphabet - apple pie play dough - salt tray ideas - homeschool year 3 -  homeschool year 2 -  homeschool year 1 -  apple theme pictures/posters -  apple scented writing tray -  wormy apple busy bag -  the Big Apple 3-part cards UnSplash

A is for Autumn (year 4, week 2)

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UnSplash We had the strangest week!  The weather dropped from around 80F and sunny to 50F and rainy overnight.  It caught me off guard.  I felt behind all week trying to get everyone outfitted for autumn. We also had a bunch of new fall activities.  I think we were out of the house 3 or 4 times this week!  Of course, we continued doing our bookwork and calendar. UnSplash

Science Center Inspiration

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We've been loving our  Science Center , so I wanted to put together a roundup of science tables that inspire me.  Many of these themes are on my list for the near future; although, they probably won't look as nice as these.  They're something to strive for, though.  I hope they inspire you as they do me. Tree Frogs Our first Science Center set-up was tree frog themed.  Click on the link to read more about what we put on our shelf. Eggs of Every Kind I love all the different eggs and the small poster on the right, which shows the tiniest egg (hummingbird) next to the largest egg (ostrich).  The books shows that the focus is not just on birds, but other oviparous animals as well.  Because of our garter snake, the kids have gotten very interested in egg-laying animals. Things that Come from Trees A study of trees seems like it would be good for autumn, with the different colored leaves and the nuts.  My kids haven't been too interested

S is for Snake (year 4, week 1)

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We started our 4th Year of Homeschool with a study of snakes.  Dragonfly caught a garter snake from our yard, so she requested that we release the tree frogs and keep the snake for a while.  We have studied frogs quite a bit, so the snake has been new to us.  We did a bit of comparison between venomous and nonvenomous snakes.  We also found out that some snakes are oviparous while others, like garter snakes, are ovoviviparous.  We watched Youtube videos of garter snakes being born, which the kids found very fascinating.  They're hoping our snake is pregnant with eggs and will produce babies one day. Dragonfly also requested that I replace our frog posters with snake ones in our Science Center.  I had a very hard time finding anything about garter snakes, so I made the posters myself.  The one on the left shows the snake's place in the food chain.  The top animals are ones that the snake eats (earthworms, minnows, and tree frogs) and the bottom animals are ones that eat snak

Book Review- The Scarlet Virgins

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The icons of the "Purity Culture" were well-known for most of the men and women who grew up in church during the 2000's.  Books like " I Kissed Dating Good-Bye, " " The Bride Wore White, " and " The Purity Code " were held at nearly the same level as the Bible.  Trinkets like purity rings  and necklaces became the talisman given by parents to protect their children's sexuality.  There were even several purity events like balls ,  secret keeper fashion shows , knighting ceremonies , and True Love Waits pledges  designed to continuously drive the purity mindset into the teens' heads.  It was the era of analogies like poop brownies, contaminated water, construction paper hearts, and trampled roses.  All the emphasis was placed on the young person's virginity, with several layers of "do not touch, do not taste, do not handle" laws added on top. My husband and I grew up in the middle of the Purity Movement; however, we

Follow That Child- Our 2017-2018 Curriculum

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UnSplash I can't believe that it's September already!  The summer has been long and smokey, but filled with lots of family adventures.  We've gone to the beach , camped  several times, and saw the solar eclipse .  The only classroom preparations that I've actually finished was our Science Center with the tree frog habitat.  With Labor Day weekend at a close, it's now time to turn to our homeschool plans. This year, Dragonfly is 6, Skimmer is 5, and Tadpole is 4.  They're still very young and active, so we're going to be focusing on the 3Rs (reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic) again this year.  We will also be continuing our science-based theme units like we have done in years past.  This year, though, we're going to spend more time Following the Children to study the things they are interested in.  Instead of deciding in the summer what we'll study every week of the upcoming year, I'm only going to plan a few weeks ahead.

Our 2017-2018 School Year

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