Homeschooling October 2013 Part 1

Flagstaff, Arizona

Ballet

In Ballet, we warmed up, we started some more ballet routines with the music and talked about ballet details using my instructional book and pictures. I introduced some more ballet vocabulary, too. For homework, the girls are to do their "goldfish stretches" at least once a day. They know how these go. Count to 50 before letting go of the stretch.

French: La Famille

In French, we had a fun lesson. We leaned the names of the members of our immediate family (father, mother, bother, sister, baby) and sang a cute song. I drew faces on each finger for each member of the family and used them as we sang the song. It was fun.

(TO THE TUNE OF FRERE JACQUES)
(The ...., the ....
Where is he/she? Here he/she is!
hello, hello, hello,
hello, hello, hello,
goodbye, goodbye)

Le père, le père,
Òu est-il? Ici est-il!
Bonjour, bonjour, bonjour
Bonjour, bonjour, bonjour
Au Revoir, Au Revoir

La mère, la mère,
Òu est-elle? Ici est-elle!
Bonjour, bonjour, bonjour
Bonjour, bonjour, bonjour
Au Revoir, Au Revoir

Le frère, le frère,
Òu est-il? Ici est-il!
Bonjour, bonjour, bonjour
Bonjour, bonjour, bonjour
Au Revoir, Au Revoir

La sœur, la sœur,
Òu est-elle? Ici est-elle!
Bonjour, bonjour, bonjour
Bonjour, bonjour, bonjour
Au Revoir, Au Revoir

Le bebé, le bebé
Òu est-il? Ici est-il!
Bonjour, bonjour, bonjour
Bonjour, bonjour, bonjour
Au Revoir, Au Revoir

                                    

My Father's World: Letter of the Week

              

Random...

This is the new "stool" that we got for the kids. It is meant to make it possible for them to reach the counter and sink. This will be wonderful for a lot of Practical Life activities like  washing hands, rinsing cups, kneading, etc. It is sturdy enough to hold both of them at the same time. I am glad we got it.

                              

Fall is here! It is my favorite season of the year! What's yours and why?

My husband is leading Bible Study at the Chapel right now. We are going over the book The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel. Great stuff. He talks about the existence of God, why He allows pain and suffering in the world and why there is evil in the world. Such important questions to know the answers to! My faith is strengthened, for sure!

As many of you know, I am a Young Living Essential Oils distributor (#1498096) and have been discovering so many wonderful things about these oils. I purchased some small glass bottles to keep my blends and singles. I have made my own First Aid kit with essential oils only. It is totally doable. I mean, look at these little guys. You can easily fit about 50 drops of the oils in each. When needed, you only use a drop or two, so these are perfect for carrying in my purse. The have come in handy a lot lately. Good thing I have them! I will be posting more about these awesome oils and their benefits. I hope to make a believer out of you.

                              

MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers): "Cleaning Your Mess" meeting

Today, I led our meeting and talked about ways to do a thorough house cleaning in 15 minutes a day. We also made our own homemade (natural, non-toxic) all-purpose cleaning solution and taught how to make natural and non-toxic air fresheners. Here are some of the ladies that went to the meeting. They all look beautiful in their aprons. And there's me in the middle. I love this group!

I finally got my renewed teaching certificate! I had only been waiting for it since May.

Kombucha Brewing: Meet Fred

I have finally ordered a scoby to brew kombucha. Kombucha is a fermented drink that is extremely healthy for the digestive system. A scoby is a yeasty bacterial mushroom that grows and ferments drinks. It takes 9-14 days for the ferment to take place. After that, you take the kombucha out of the jar and can ferment for a second time, this time, with any flavoring you want. I have heard that you can add ginger, lemon, almost any fruit, etc. It takes another week or two to ferment the second time. I am excited to see what will happen with this guy. Stay tuned to my next post to get an update on Fred.

Do any of you brew kombucha at home? Any tips you want to share?

I used to brew water kefir, but the fermentation process is so short that it was hard keeping up. I had to start a new brew every other day. It is what helped K's constipation when he had it, but it was too much. I really enjoyed brewing it, though. I am now ready for this guy to start fermenting some awesome tea.

Play Time: Flying a Kite

               

                         

                                   

Potty Training Baby Girl: The Beginning

Guess who said she needed to pee, sat on the potty and peed?! Whoa! Awesome, girl!

And there we are, Caleb and I are giving her no privacy whatsoever. Just don't tell her I post this! Lol. I'm just so impressed! We weren't even trying! We cleaned out the garage and brought it in that same day.

Montessori Practical Life: Getting Dressed and Undressed

Baby Girl is really trying hard to get dressed and undressed on her own lately.
I am so proud of her!

*UPDATE #2* Bible: God made the Plants

In Bible class a week or two ago, we learned that God made all plants. Check out these posts (Post 1: The Lesson) (Post 2: UPDATE #1). These guys are really growing! I think it's time to repot.

                   

Field Trip: Colorado River on the Boat

                    

Killing two birds with one stone...

Homeschooling September 2013 Part 3

Inspiration...
Sigh...

Sometimes, being a big brother is better than being a superhero...

                                 

I recently came across a blog post about homeschooling moms and it was very inspirational. To read it, click here.

Spanish: Los Colores

In Spanish, we learned the colors. 10 colors are included (except for grey-gris). Your kids are more than welcome to add that color to their boxes.  Another popular one was arcoiris-rainbow color. 
The memory game is to either pick 6 out of the 10 colors, line up the color and then the English and Spanish in the same row or they can do all 10 and pile all 3 (color, English and Spanish) on top of each other.

Bible: Kidz Klub

Homemade German Chocolate Cake (requested by my hubby). I love using raw cacao.

French: Les Coleurs

We did the same thing as in Spanish class and used the same egg crates for the activity. I introduced the colors. We repeated the colors and compared them to other languages like English and Spanish. We also watched a video that pronounces the colors in French really well. There was a part in the short video where a girl went off in French talking about her family. The kids were super attentive and quiet, listening to every word. After the girl was done, you should've seen the kids' faces when I told them that we'll keep practicing French and that someday they'll understand everything she's saying. They were flabbergasted and loved the idea!

Then we added the French mini cards in the egg crates. They had fun sorting them all out.  They did awesome!

Desk Work

Chores: Putting his underwear away

                  

 Gym Co-op

This is what our gym co-op looks like. See pictures below. I teach ballet while my neighbors take the rest of the kids and do fun stuff with them. Every week is a different story.  I love it!

 

Bible: Conversation about Angels

One of my neighbors takes the kids for half an hour every week and teaches them with My Father's World. The topic today was about things that are unseen and how they were also made by God. An example used was angels. K started asking me more about angels. He has heard of angels and we have read about them in the Bible, but this time, we dedicated an entire conversation to angels. It was fun talking about them and how they are real, even if we can't always see them. I showed him some pictures of angels. He loved them all!

Practical Life: Say No to Bullying and Yes to Courtesy and Mutual Respect

Even though this DVD is for parents, K and I watched it together and had a talk about it. Some of it was over his head, but he did grasp some things. I will keep this and watch it with him every 6 months or so. I am sure he will understand more and more about this topic as he gets older.

K loves reading this book.

Montessori Culture (Geography): Penpal and Postcard Exchange

Writing a letter to his penpal, H.

K is writing better and better! He is so impressive!

This is how we display his penpal's correspondence.
We change every time he gets a new letter from him.

Bible: God made the Sand, Rocks and Soil

We sang some songs about how God made the sand, rocks and soil in the world and then we headed outside. I use the Karyn Henley curriculum.

We collected sand, rocks and soil outside and made these plates to remember and thank God for making them.

Homeschooling Baby Girl: Montessori Toddler Material

      

       

Field Trip to Friendship Park

                

Desk Work

Mathematics: Beginner Addition (Teach My Preschooler)

Montessori Sensorial: Cylinder Blocks

The information below was taken from Montessori Primary Guide Materials 4 blocks, each containing 10 cylinders with knobs, each cylinder fitting into its respective hole. Block 1: The cylinders vary in two dimensions: The diameter increases from 1cm to 5.5cm The height remains constant at 5.5cm Block 2: The cylinders vary in three dimensions: The diameter increases from 1c, to 5.5cm The height increases from 1cm to 5.5cm Block 3: The cylinders vary in three dimensions: The diameter increases from 1cm to 5.5cm The height decreases from 1cm to 5.5cm Block 4: The cylinders vary in one dimension: The diameter remains the same. The height increases from 1cm to 5.5cm

Block A

Block B

Blocks A and B

Block C

Blocks A, B and C

Blocks A, B, C and D

Play Time

               

Chores: Watering Plants

Field Trip on the Boat to the River

      

Our water shoes are drying after taking 

the boat out to the river.

Food for Thought...